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M. L

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 1833 00858 4473

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Daniel McNeill Parker, M.D.

His Ancestry and a Memoir
of His Life

Daniel McNeill and His Descendants

WILLIAM FREDERICK PARKER

TORONTO

WILLIAM BRIGGS

1910

MY MOTHER

in mind and character peculiarly adapted to her husband
who through fifty-three years supported every
effort of his noble life ; sustained and solaced
him ; made his domestic life a fount of
strength, and love, and happi-
ness, as deep, and pure,
and perfect as mortal
man may find

I DEDICATE
THESE MEMOIRS

CONTENTS

Chapter. Page.

Introductory 7

Daniel McNeill and His Descendants 9

I. The Parker Family 31

II. The McNeill Family 45

III. Early Years 8S

IV. 1845 to 1861 Ill

V. The American Tour of 1861 146

VI. 1861 to 1871 203

VII. Edinburgh; 1871 to 1873 261

VIII. First Years of Consulting Practice, 1873 to 1881 322

IX. Across the Continent 335

X. The Closing Years of Activity 372

XI. The Jubilee 387

XII. Politics, and the Legislative Council 413

XIII. The Declining Years 489

XIV. " Denominational " 505

XV. From Life to Life 521

XVI. Characteristic, and General 540

Appendices.

A. Recollections of Travel, Fanny A. Parker 561

B. Lectures Before the Mechanics' Institute 563

C. Cheloid. The last paper read before a Medical Society 598

INTRODUCTORY.

" Scribere jussdt amor."
— Ovid.

Fob the instruction and benefit of the children, grandchildren
and future descendants of my father, I desire to leave some record
of his ancestry and his life.

In this ancestry, humble though it be, they will discover no
cause for shame ; while in the imperfect narrative of my father's
life they will find that to which they may ever point with pride.
From him they derive the heritage of a noble name — clarum et
venerabile nomen; of a character and career which should ever
be to them a memory and example of an exalting and inspiring
nature.

My narrative is necessarily imperfect. Apart altogether from
my own limitations as a narrator, I am embarrassed by the scant
measure of material at my disposal. After he had relinquished
the practice of his profession in the year 1895, many times did I
press upon my father a suggestion that he should employ some of
his leisure in writing something of a biographical or reminiscent
nature. But I was always checked in this by that innate spirit
of humility which characterized him. and which relentlessly for-
bade any such thing. Great has been our loss as a family in
consequence; irreparable the loss to one who would attempt my
task.

For the ancestral record materials are not altogether wanting.
William Parker, senior, left a brief chronicle of family names
and dates, with some other slight information. Since my father's
death I discovered the original of this in the possession of Mrs.
Sarah Dimock, of South Rawdon, Hants County, who derives
descent from William through his daughter Mary, with whom he
left these family notes. The chronicle appears to have been con-
tinued by Mary after her father's death. Through the kind offices
of a kinsman, Mr. Lewis Parker, of the Assistant Receiver-Gen-
eral's Office at Halifax, I have procured a copy of it.

Material concerning the McNeill family I have derived from
my father himself, from my personal investigations in North
Carolina in 1898, as well as by correspondence with members of
the family in Georgia, New York and Washington. I have thus
been enabled to prepare a fairly accurate family chart or " tree "
of the McNeills, which I have in my possession. Other sources

8 INTRODUCTORY

of information are the books : " Revolutionary Incidents and
Sketches of Character, chiefly in the Old North State," by Rev.
E. W. Carruthers, D.D., published in 1854, and " Colonel Fan-
ning's Narrative of his Exploits and Adventures as a Loyalist of
North Carolina in the American Revolution," published first at
Richmond, Virginia, in 1861. Judge Savary, of Annapolis, Nova
Scotia, published an edition of this Narrative in 1908, critically
annotated from the Loyalist point of view. Other books of
reference are noted hereafter.

For information concerning the Nutting family I am chiefly
indebted to the late Charles Martyr Nutting, who received it, many
years ago, from a Miss Mary Nutting, of Boston, Mass. ; and to
Page's " History of Cambridge, Massachusetts."

A biography of the Reverend William Black was first written
by Rev. Matthew Richey in 1839. Rev. T. Watson Smith, in his
" History of Methodism in Eastern British America," devotes con-
siderable attention to this ancestor of my mother, and in 1907 a
smaller biography of him was published by Rev. John Maclean.
An historical record of Reverend William Black's posterity was
published by Cyrus Black, of Amherst, N.S., in 1885.

Concerning the Grants and other families who enter into the
record I have attempted, I rest upon authenticated tradition,
received from members of those families, from my father, and my
uncle, Francis G. Parker.

It seems necessary to add that my monograph entitled " Daniel
McNeill and his Descendants " was written by request in 1906
to supply some data for an historical record of the McNeill family
which Mr. Lewis S. Atkins, of the Postmaster-General's Office
at Washington, and another member of the family had in contem-
plation, and also for the more immediate information of kinsfolk
in North Carolina, Georgia and Texas. This paper of mine,
therefore, was restricted in its scope, and confined, in point of
time, to the McNeills in Nova Scotia and their descendants. I
have now revised it in some particulars, and I prefix it to the
narrative more immediately relating to my father. In detailing
the events of his life in the latter, I have tried to avoid any repe-
tition of statement found in the former, and to make the sub-
sequent narrative supplement and fill out the earlier one, in which
only the more prominent facts in his career are given, and in con-
densed form.

It remains to be said that the volume which I now present has
been compiled with no commercial intent, but solely as a labor of
love ; as a memorial record of my father, for the use of his
immediate family and his descendants.

W. F. Parker.

Wolfville, N.S.,

January 31st, 1910.

AN ACCOUNT OF DANIEL McNEILL
AND HIS DESCENDANTS.

(Revised. )

Daniel McNeill, son of Archibald and Janet (Bahn)
McNeill, was born at Lower Little River, Cumberland County,
North Carolina, in 1752. Upon the outbreak of the American
Revolutionary War he espoused the British cause, and for a time
served as lieutenant in the 7 1st regiment. He first took service
in May, 1776, when Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Sir Peter
Parker were at Wilmington, N.C., on their way from New York
upon the first expedition against Charleston, S.C. In 1780 he
obtained a commission in a North Carolina Royalist regiment, as
appears by an original certificate which seems to have been granted
to replace his commission, which had been lost. This certificate
is as follows :

" Inspk.-Genl's. Office, New York,
30th Aug., 1783.
" It appears by the Records in this Office that Daniel McNeil,
Esqr., was appointed captain of a company in the North Carolina
Volunteers by the Right Honorable Lieut.-General Earle Corn-
wallis, bearing date the twenty-fourth June, one thousand seven
hundred and eighty.

" (Sgd.) Aug. Prevost,
" Dy. Ins.-Generl. B. A. Forces."

Captain McNeill's next commission in the British forces is
here given, from the original, as a matter of historical curiosity.
The regiment mentioned is not the same as that named in the
foregoing certificate.

Seal.
" By His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, Knight of the Moft
Honorable Order of the Bath, General and Commander in Chief
of all His Majefty's Forces within the colonies laying on the
Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to Weft Florida, inclufive,
&c. &c. &c.

" To Daniel McNeil, Esq.

" By virtue of the Power and Authority in Me vefted I Do
hereby eonftitute and appoint you to be Captain of a Company

10 DANIEL McNEILL and his descendants

in the North Carolina Volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel Commandant John Hamilton. You are therefore to take
the faid Company into your care and charge, and duly to exercife
as well the Officers, as Soldiers thereof in Arms and to ufe Your
beft Endeavours to keep them in good order and Difcipline : and
I Do hereby command them to obey You as their Captain: and
You are to obferve and follow fuch Orders and Directions from
Time to Time, as You fhall receive from the General or Com-
mander in Chief of His Majefty's Forces in North America, now
and for the Time being, Your Lieut. Colonel Commandant, or any
other Your Superior Officer, according to the Rules and Difcipline
of War in Purfuance of the Truft hereby repofed in You.

Given under my Hand and Seal, at Head Quarters in New
York the Twentieth day of August, one thoufand Seven Hundred
and Eighty One in the Twenty First Year of the Reign of our
Sovereign Lord George the Third by the Grace of God, of Great
Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith : and f o
forth :

" By His Excellency's Command
"(Sgd) John Smith.

"(Sgd) H. Clinton."

Of the Captain's personal experiences in his military service
few particulars have been preserved to his Nova Scotia descendants
now living. He served, however, through the war from beginning
to end, and was wounded twice. When his grandson, Dr. Daniel
McNeill Parker, removed his remains from one cemetery to
another, he extracted from one of the thigh-bones a bullet which
was embedded in the bone. It was a rough slug of rolled lead,
and must have been fired at close quarters to retain the position in
which it was found.

At the close of the war there was a large outpouring of Royal-
ists from the States into the British Provinces, in part com-
pulsory and in part voluntary. These exiles became known in
Canadian history as the United Empire Loyalists. Of this
exodus Nova Scotia received its share. In March, 1783, the com-
manding officers of fourteen Provincial (Loyalist) regiments peti-
tioned the Crown for grants of land in the colonies to the Loyalist
officers and men, for pensions, half-pay, etc. On June 6th of that
year the Governor of Nova Scotia informed the British Secretary
of State that since the 15th of January upwards of 7,000 refugees
had arrived in Nova Scotia, and that they were to be followed by
3,000 of the Provincial forces, and others besides. Murdoch, in
his " History of Nova Scotia," states that between November,
1782, and August, 1783, upwards of 13,000 Loyalist refugees had

DANIEL McNEILL and his DESCENDANTS 11

arrived in the Province, and that in July, 1784, the total number
of Loyalists arrived in Nova Scotia was 28,347.

Captain McNeill first appeared in Nova Scotia in November,

1783, when he was in Halifax in connection with the business of
procuring a Crown grant of land for North and South Carolina
Loyalists. On the 13th of May, 1784, a grant was made to about
400 officers, non-commissioned officers and men of Captain
McNeill's regiment and the King's Carolina Rangers. Among
the grantees were some South Carolina Royalists. The grant
contained 61,250 acres at Country Harbor in what was then part
of Halifax County, but now lying within the County of Guys-
borough. Captain McNeill's share, set off to him, was 1,250
acres. These settlers were brought from St. Augustine, Florida,
by sea, at the expense of the British Government, in the spring of

1784. They called their settlement Stormont, a name which has
been perpetuated in what is now known as the Stormont Gold
District, under the Mining Laws of the Province. Murdoch,
speaking of the place in August, 1784, says: "At Country
Harbor (anciently called Mocodome) a new settlement or town
on the East side of it, called Stormont, was in progress. The
inhabitants were nearly 400 in number. Some were officers who
had served in the late war."

While living here, Captain McNeill married, at Halifax, Mary
Nutting, daughter of Captain John Nutting, of the corps of Royal
Engineers in the British Army, and his wife, Mary Walton (Nut-
ting), a native of South Reading, Mass. The date of the mar-
riage was November 27th, 1788. James Walton Nutting, for
fifty years Clerk of the Crown and Prothonotary (Chief Clerk)
of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, was a brother of Mrs.
McNeill. Another brother, John, was a captain in the Royal
Artillery. Mary Nutting was born in Cambridge, Mass., March
6th, 1768. Her father, John, as a young man, served with Massa-
chusetts troops against the French in America. Proscribed as a
Royalist in 1778, he was forced to leave his home and property in
Cambridge, and came, with his wife and family of eleven children,
to Halifax. He was employed by the British Government as
King's Messenger to carry despatches between America and Eng-
land during the Revolutionary War. At one time when so
engaged he was captured by a French man-of-war and imprisoned
in France. Being well up in Freemasonry, he was assisted by
brother Masons to escape, and so got safely to England. After-
ward? he received a commission in the Royal Engineers and served
in the Revolutionary War, being several times wounded. As
captain in that corps, later, he was employed for some years at
Halifax in constructing the defences of that city. Among other
works, he built the old " Chain Batterv " near the entrance of

12 DANIEL McNEILL and his descendants

the North-west Arm of Halifax Harbor, which, with a chain boom
beneath it, was designed to protect the city from attack in the rear.
He died in 1800, and his wife in 1830. In consideration of her
husband's services to the Crown, and his heavy losses of property
at Cambridge by confiscation, the Duke of Kent (father of Queen
Victoria), while Commander-in-Chief in Nova Scotia, procured
for the widow a special pension from the Crown. Mrs. McNeill's
father (John) was a grandson of Jonathan Nutting, of Cambridge,
Mass., and a great-grandson of John Nutting, a New England
Puritan who was living in Woburn, Mass. in the year 1650, was
one of the petitioners for the town of Chelmsford, Mass., and one
of the " original proprietors " of Groton, Mass., in which latter
place he settled about the year 1660. According to the family
tradition this ancestor was killed in an attack by Indians on his
garrison house in King Philip's War.

Little is known of Captain McNeill's life at Stormont. He
had ten slaves employed upon his plantation, which must have
proved an unpromising undertaking, for the locality was largely
a wilderness of rock and poorly timbered. It has since proved
rich in gold; but as the Crown grant of 1784 reserved this royal
mineral the settlers lost nothing through ignorantly living over
potential gold mines. Here his elder daughter, Mary Janet, was
born, September 24th, 1789. The McNeills visited Halifax fre-
quently. The Captain had business interests there, and the social
life of the Provincial Capital was made attractive by the presence
of the large military and naval forces maintained there during
the European wars of the period. There were no roads in the
eastern part of the Province, and communication between Stor-
mont and Halifax was by small coasting vessels or open boats.
On one occasion the Captain, in default of better conveyance,
employed two Frenchmen from Cape Breton to take him to
Halifax, about 110 miles distant, in a small open boat. These
men knew that he had a sum of money with him, and arranged
to murder him on the voyage. They talked of it as they rowed,
little thinking that their passenger knew some French, and that
he was armed. When their time came they threw down their
oars, one reached for an axe in the bottom of the boat, and the
other drew a knife. Throwing back his military cloak, their
intended victim whipped out a brace of horse-pistols, and covering
both of the villains, bade them, in vigorous if not elegant French,
to row, threatening to kill instantly either of them who dropped
a stroke. There were yet many miles to go, but all night he kept
them at it, calmly but ruthlessly sitting with a pistol on each knee.
Arrived at the landing beach in Halifax next day, the weary
Frenchmen took to the water before the boat was beached, and,
despite the Captain's efforts to have them detained by the people

DANIEL Mc^EILL and HIS DESCENDANTS 13

en shore, they broke through the busy throng, and taking to the
woods, were never discovered. But the Captain had the boat by
way of compensation. In her correspondence with members of
the Nutting family his elder daughter refers to some of the family
excursions to Halifax. In one letter she describes a return voyage
to Stormont after a visit to the city to do some shopping. The
passengers were huddled in the cabin of a little schooner for the
night. Yet, she says, " the voyage would have been pleasant
enough but for the continual screaming of Captain Marshall's
cross baby." Captain Marshall was a brother officer of her father,
who became one of the Stormont settlers. This obnoxious infant
became Chief Justice John G. Marshall, of the Court of Common
Pleas for Cape Breton, and his daughter married a brother of the
second wife of Dr. Daniel McNeill Parker, Captain McNeill's
grandson.

During his military career Daniel McNeill had met at New
York Captain Robert Grant, of the 42nd Highland Regiment
(" The Black Watch "), and an intimate friendship arose between
them. Grant was the British officer who, to win a wager, can-
tered his horse through Trinity Church — up the main aisle from
the Broadway entrance, wheeling to the right before the altar, and
out by the rear door into the churchyard — during divine service
on a Sunday morning. This occurred when the British cause
was waning at New York, and the mad prank might have cost him
his life. Grant quitted the army at the close of the war. He
married a Miss Bergen, of New York, and, removing to Nova
Scotia, had settled at " Loyal Hill," on the Avon River, about
eight miles below Windsor, the county town of Hants, and fifty
miles west of Halifax. Their son, Michael Bergen Grant, mar-
ried, July 10th, 1800, Sophia Elizabeth Nutting, a sister of Mrs.
Daniel McNeill.

Captain McNeill often visited the new " Loyal Hill " planta-
tion. Windsor, near by, the seat of King's College, a busy little
town rapidly increasing in size and importance through the
Loyalist immigration, and being, moreover, a garrison town, was
a much more desirable place than Stormont ; while the better soil
for tillage and the fine natural scenery about the Avon and the
Basin of Minas must have proved most attractive to one coming
from the rougher and less congenial eastern part of the Province.
To these considerations add the prospect of having the Grants
for neighbors, and it is not difficult to understand McNeill's reso-
lution to remove into the neighborhood of " Loyal Hill." In or
about the year 1797 he removed thither and founded a new home
on the eastern shore of Minas Basin, in Hants County, calling
the place Cambridge, after old Cambridge, the birthplace of his
wife, whence, as a child ten years of age, she had fled with her

14 DANIEL McNEILL and his descendants

proscribed father from the Massachusetts " Whigs." His brother-
in-law, James, acquired an adjoining estate, though living most
of the time in Halifax. Previous to his permanent removal to
Hants County, the Captain's twin children, Archibald John and
Sophia Margaret, were born at Windsor, March 27th, 1793. The
son died in early boyhood.

In 1811 Captain McNeill revisited North Carolina. His
father had died, and, as appears by his will, dated April 17th,
1801, had devised to his son Daniel 323 acres of land in Chatham
County, near the mouth of New Hope, and other land on McKay's
Creek, in Cumberland County (N.C.), with a provision that " in
case my son Daniel nor any of his heirs in Nova Scotia should
never come to claim the said plantations," then they should be
equally divided between " my son Hector's son Daniel and my
grandson John McNeill's son also named Daniel." The will
also bequeathed to Captain Daniel " twenty milch cows out of my
stock to be sold and the money put to interest for the benefit of
Daniel and his heirs " ; and there was a contingent reversionary
devise of another plantation to Daniel and his heirs. It is known
that the Captain, during this visit, engaged in litigation with his
brother Neill (who was an executor of the will), and with other
persons, concerning his interests under his father's will; but his
Nova Scotia descendants are unaware of the particulars of this
controversy. In a letter, dated Cumberland County, N.C., July
17th, 1838, Dr. John McKay, who married Mary McNeill,
youngest daughter of Margaret McNeill, Daniel's sister, informs
Francis Parker, Daniel's son-in-law, " that the Captain made
some arrangement of his business when he returned to Nova
Scotia, expecting in a short time to return to North Carolina,"
but that since he left, he, Dr. McKay, and his wife had never
heard anything more of this business. It seems that the Captain
never returned. By his will, dated January 8th, 1814, and pro-
bated at Windsor, N.S., he devised the two plantations first above
mentioned to his daughter, Mary Janet, but no steps were taken
by her to recover these properties. While in his native State on
this occasion the following letter to him from his younger brother
John (copied from the original) may be of interest to the family.
It is addressed : " Mr. Danl. McNeill, Cape Fear, Sproule's Ferry
Cumberland County," on the cover, with the added words,
" favored by Mr. A. Gilchrist."

The letter is as follows :

" Moore County, Deep River,
"June 3rd, 1811.

" Dr. Brother, — Last night I had the pleasure of Mr. Mal-
colm Buie's company, and Mr. Archd. Gilchrist, lately from Ten-
nessee, by whom I shall send these few lines, as he is going directly

DANIEL McNEILL and HIS DESCENDANTS 15

down to Mr. D. Shaw's. Since I came to this place there has no
remarkable occurrance taken place which is worthy of incerting
in a letter. I am happy to inform you that I am perfectly satis-
fyed with my situation, that I have interviews with agreeable com-
panions and hospitable citizens. The inhabitants of this vicinity
are more accomplished, there manners and customs more refined
than is common in Country villages. This is an advantage which
induces me to make choice of this place in preference to any other
country situation and even town itself. When I first came I com-
menced memorising the Greek grammer. I have gone partially
through it once and have began to read the Greek Testament, and
I must confess that I find it more difficult than any study I have
ever undertaken ; but I hope time and application will surmount
this difficulty. My classmate, Mr. Moor, is a very agreeable
young man and spares no pains to give me every information he
can and in making me acquainted with the most respectable
citizens. It is now late in the morning, I must go to school. I
have been perfectly well since I came here, hoping this may find
you and the family enjoying the same. I wish you every success
with your farm. I remain your most affectionate Brother, etc.

" (Sgd.) John MacNeill.
" D. McNeill.

" N.B. — It is expected we will have an exhibition at our school
about the first of July, when there will be a fortnight's vacation.
If so I shall write you by the mail if no other opportunity."

Early in 1812 Captain McNeill returned to Nova Scotia,
bringing with him a considerable number of slaves. A short time
before he landed at Windsor, doubts as to the legality of slave-
owning in the Province had arisen, in consequence of some ill-
considered, off-hand dicta of Chief Justice Blowers in deciding,
upon a writ of habeas corpus, a question of the custody of a slave
at Halifax who had run away from Shelburne. The deliverance
of the Chief Justice was taken by the people for law. Slaves were
encouraged to desert their service, and the losses to slave-owners
proved serious in many cases. Most of these slave-holders were
Southern Loyalists. As Judge Haliburton, of the Nova Scotia
Supreme Court, says in his History of the Province, writing of
this period: " On this subject there prevailed much romance and
false sentiment in Nova Scotia as well as in England." He, in
common with many other of the best legal authorities in the
British Provinces, held that slavery there contravened no law
previous to the British Emancipation Act of 1833, which rendered
it illegal in all British possessions. However, Captain McNeill's
slaves, on landing, were told by certain officious persons in Windsor

16 DANIEL McNEILL and his descendants

that they were " free niggers " when they touched British soil, and
nearly all the male slaves ran away.

Dr. T. Watson Smith, in his book, " The Slave in Canada w
(p. 115), relating this incident, prefaces the account by saying
that " perhaps no experience at this period was more trying than
that of Captain Daniel McNeill." Dr. Smith states that these
slaves had been accepted by the Captain on account of his property
claims in North Carolina. In July, 1812, five hundred acres of
the Stormont property were sold. The remaining seven hundred
and fifty acres were never disposed of, and fell into the possession
of squatters who were never disturbed.

It appears to have been about the year 1800 that the Captain
lost his wife. Hers was a tragic end. Delirious in fever on a
winter's night, she escaped from her nurse. Her naked footprints
in the snow were traced to the brink of a bluff overhanging the
waters of Minas Basin, near the house. The Fundy tide, which
there rapidly ebbs and flows a full fifty feet, beat against the cliff.
Search was unavailing. Her body was never recovered.

Owing to the loss of the family Bible, to which reference is
made elsewhere, the date of this event cannot now be ascertained ;
nor can the date of the marriage of Captain McNeill's elder
daughter. She, Mary Janet, married Francis Parker, of
Windsor, N.S., probably in 1819. He was a merchant doing
business there at the time of this marriage, but later he removed
to Petite Riviere, a few miles north of Cambridge, where through
his success in shipbuilding, the quarrying and export of plaster
and gypsum, and in the conduct of a general mercantile business,
he founded and built up a village which he named Walton, after
the maiden name of his wife's grandmother.

No portrait of " Jennet " McNeill in early life remains ; but
old people who remembered the youth and fashion of Windsor
when she was a bride were wont to remark to her descendants that
" Jennet McNeill and Francis Parker were the handsomest
couple " appearing either in Windsor or in Halifax society. She
had a mind well formed and cultivated. As a wife and mother
she was to her husband and children incomparable. To the com-
munity in which she lived and to all comers she appeared to
embody a catalogue of the graces, and by no means least, that of
hospitality. Francis Parker, born January 17th, 1797, was a
son of John Parker, of Newport Township, County of Hants, N.S.,
and Sarah Grant, his wife, a daughter of Captain Robert Grant,
of " Loyal Hill," the soldier friend of Captain McNeill. John
Parker was the son of one of three Yorkshire Parkers (brothers)
who, sailing from Hull, England, in March, 1774, came to Halifax
and settled, two in Hants and one in Colchester County, as farmers
and graziers. Francis Parker, from the time of his settlement in

DANIEL McNEILL and HIS DESCENDANTS 17

Walton until old age, was the chief magistrate of his township.
He was well read in law, though not a lawyer, and was a man of
fine and discriminating literary taste. His nobility of character
comported well with a distinguished courtliness of demeanor, which
made him what is called a " gentleman of the old school." In
charity he might have rivalled Saint Martin of Tours. The open-
handed hospitality of the " Squire's " home is proverbial to this
day. He was prosperous in business ; and had not his Maine
and Massachusetts rivals in the business of milling and grinding
plaster leagued against him to secure from Congress a prohibitive
duty on ground plaster, thus shutting the manufactured material
out of the American market, he would have been comparatively
wealthy. Three of his larger ships, " The Walton," " The Pem-
broke," and " The Wentworth," noted vessels in their day, were
commanded by three of his sons. He was originally a member
of the Church of England, but in middle life united with the
Baptist Church at Walton. Mrs. Parker, too, followed this course
of her husband in religious matters.

Captain Daniel McNeill died of apoplexy at Cambridge on
May 5th, 1818, aged 66 years, and was interred in the Loyal Hill
family burial ground of the Grants. Years afterwards, the Loyal
Hill plaster quarry at the beach having gradually encroached upon
this old cemetery, his grandson, Dr. Daniel McNeill Parker,
removed his body to the Parker family cemetery at Walton, where
his dust now mingles with that of his two daughters and many of
his descendants.

Mary Janet Parker died at Walton, March 7th, 1866, aged
76 years. Francis Parker died at Walton, August 24th, 1882,
at the age of 85.

Descendants of Francis Parker and Mary Janet Parker.

The children of Francis and Mary Janet Parker are: James
Walton, Daniel McNeill, John Nutting, Frederick H., Francis
Grant, Wentworth Foster, Mary Sophia.

1. James Walton Parker was born at Windsor, in the
County of Hants, Nova Scotia, about 1820. He followed the sea
from early life, and while commanding one of his father's ships
upon a voyage to the East, perished with the ship, which was never
heard of after setting sail. He was never married.

2. The Honorable Daniel McNeill Parker, M.D.,
L.R.C.S. Edin., D.C.L., was born at Windsor, in the County of
Hants, Nova Scotia, April 28th, 1822. In his early childhood
his father removed to Walton, in the same county. Daniel, when
not at school, was employed in getting out ship timber for his
father. The only boasting he was ever known to indulge in was

18 DANIEL McNEILL and his descendants

that at eight years of age he could handle a team of as many oxen
in the lumber woods, — and do it as well as any other man. His
early education was obtained principally at King's Collegiate
School, Windsor, and at Horton Collegiate Academy, Wolfville,
N.S. He began the study of Medicine at Halifax, N.S., with Dr.
William Bruce Almon, the son of a Georgia loyalist army officer ;
and in 1842 went to the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. On
July 1st, 1845, he received the diploma of the Royal College of
Surgeons, Edinburgh, taking the gold medal for Anatomy. On
August 1st of the same year he graduated M.D. at the University
of that city. During his course of study there he served, in his
vacations, as clinical clerk to Sir James Y. Simpson, the distin-
guished gynecologist and discoverer of chloroform; and also to
Sir Robert Christison, a notable physician. Among many cele-
brated men of Scotland who were his friends during these years of
study was Dr. Thomas Chalmers, the Presbyterian divine. For
fifty years Dr. Parker practised his profession in Halifax, N.S.,
frequently going abroad for advanced study and information, that
he might keep pace with the rapid advance of medical and surgical
science. In 1871 he relinquished his practice and went to Edin-
burgh, where, until 1873, he engaged in special surgical research,
sometimes visiting London and some of the European capitals.
Upon his return to Halifax he established himself as a consulting
surgeon, in which capacity his services were sought throughout
Nova Scotia and the adjacent Provinces. In August, 1895, he
retired from practice. He is an honorary member of the Gyne-
cological Society of Boston, Mass., and of many other medical and
surgical societies, and has contributed much to the periodical
literature of his profession. Much of his time has been given,
during a busy life, to philanthropical and educational work, as
well as to the more public service of his country. He was a com-
missioner from Nova Scotia for the International Exhibition of
1851, at London, and for his services received from the Prince
Consort a commemorative medal. In 1867, previous to the con-
federation of the British Provinces, he was appointed a member
of the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia, the Upper House of the
Legislature; and when he resigned this office in 1901, on account
of impaired health, he was the sole surviving member of that body
who derived appointment from the Government of Great Britain.
A few extracts from the speeches of his colleagues in the Legis-
lature upon the occasion of his voluntary retirement will be indica-
tive of the esteem in which he has been held in private as well as
public life. Said one : " He is a man prized for his sterling
worth, his uprightness and integrity, and his great business and
executive ability. Notwithstanding Hon. Dr. Parker's political
views, I never knew him once actuated solely by party motives.

DANIEL McNEILL and HIS DESCENDANTS 19

He was always anxious to do what was right and just in con-
nection with private bills, and what was right and wise in connec-
tion with public measures, so that bills coming from the Lower
House to this House were often amended in most important par-
ticulars through his instrumentality. He was a perfect gentle-
man, one of nature's noblemen, and it is but voicing the sentiments
of honorable members of this House to say that the better he was
known the more highly he was appreciated. He was at all times
at his post in the Committee on Bills, and he took an active part
in the debates of this House. Universal regret has been expressed
by honorable members of this House when he tendered his resigna-
tion. It is a loss, not only to this House, but to the Province at
large."

Speaking for the Government, of which Dr. Parker was an
opponent, the Chairman of the Council's Committee on Bills said :
" In recent years we (the Government) have told him (Dr.
Parker) again and again that if he did not feel able to devote the
entire day to the work of the House and its committees, we would
be glad to have him come and remain a short time while the House
was in session, so that we could still have his valuable assistance.
The long period he had spent in this chamber gave him a large
experience in legislation and enabled him to speak with matured
judgment in every matter that came before it." These remarks
had reference to two previous occasions when Dr. Parker had
withdrawn his resignation at the earnest request of the Govern-
ment and his colleagues. In the speech of another colleague in
the Legislative Council occurs this tribute : " I realize that Dr.
Parker maintained here that high standard in regard to public
matters, which in private matters has always been associated with
his name. I regard Dr. Parker as one of the choice spirits of this
Province. The words ' integrity ' and ' honorable dealing ' hardly
express to my mind the rare qualities which go to make up the
doctor's personality. He is a man of most tender regard for the
feelings as well as the rights of others, which make all his dealings
with his fellow men emanate from the bed-rock of justice.
He knows neither Trojan nor Tyrian in church or state. He has
that sense of dealing with his fellows as he would be dealt by,
which makes his public and private life an embodiment of the
golden rule."

In 1877, Dr. Parker was chosen by his political opponents,
the Government of the day, as a delegate to the Fredericton
Conference on the matter of a Union of the three Maritime
Provinces of Canada, and in his capacity of legislator he was
frequently engaged in special political service and prominent in
the counsels of his country. Yet he uniformly declined various
offers of political preferment, both in Provincial and Federal

20 DANIEL McNEILL and his descendants

affairs. In his contributions to educational and philanthropic
work in Nova Scotia he has filled, among others, the following
offices : He was a Commissioner of Schools for the City of Halifax
upon the institution and organization of the Free School System
in Nova Scotia. For about twenty-nine years he was a member of
the Board of Governors of Acadia College at Wolfville, N. S.
He was active in promoting the establishment of the Halifax
Medical College, and for many years was an examiner for that
Institution. For many years he occupied a prominent position
on the original commission which governed the affairs of the
Provincial and City Hospital, and of the Poor's Asylum, at
Halifax, and was later a valued member of the Boards of the
Victoria General Hospital, the Halifax Dispensary, and the
Provincial Board of Health. Early in his career he was Chairman
of the Commissioners of the Nova Scotia Hospital for the
Insane. He was long a consulting physician and surgeon of
the Hospitals above mentioned, and of the Halifax Infirmary.
He has been President of the Provincial Medical Association of
Nova Scotia and of the Canada Medical Association. For thirty
years he was President of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb,
at Halifax, and for many years President of the Home for the
Aged, in the same city, and a Director of the Protestant Orphans'
Home there. In early life he was a manager of the Mechanics'
Institute at Halifax, and a frequent lecturer for that Society.
He also served on the Managing Board of the Industrial School
at Halifax for a time. As a Director of the Halifax Young Men's
Christian Association, he contributed much to its work. With
the development of all these institutions he has been closely
identified. A member of the Baptist denomination, he was active
in all its work, filling positions from time to time on various
Managing Boards of the Baptist Convention of the Maritime
Provinces, of which Convention he was, for a term, the President.
In 1882, Acadia College conferred upon him the honorary degree
of D.C.L. In business life he was for many years a Director of
the Halifax Gas Light Company, and President, both of the
Nova Scotia Benefit Building Society and the Halifax and
Dartmouth Steam Ferry Company. He was also one of the
first Directors of the Windsor and Annapolis Railway (during
the period of construction).

Dr. Parker travelled much in the British Isles, Europe, the
West India Islands, the United States and Canada. He has been
an eye-witness of historic events, including the final scene in
the disruption of the Church of Scotland in 1843, the beginning
of one great war in the bombardment and surrender of Fort
Sumpter in 1861, and the closing scenes of another, after the
bloody work of the Commune at Paris which followed the surrender

DANIEL McNEILL and his DESCENDANTS 21

of that city to the Germans in 1870. When the Civil War in the
United States was beginning, Dr. Parker was at McNeill's Ferry,
North Carolina, the guest of Colonel Archibald McNeill. During
that exciting period he saw, both in the South and in the North,
the preparations for that awful struggle. He saw Major Anderson
carried a prisoner through the streets of Charleston, and was him-
self shut up in that city for a few days, a virtual prisoner, for-
bidden to leave, write or telegraph, and afterwards having to
make his way North with the Southern army, and then on to
Philadelphia across country by teams and along the coast in small
boats.

When Dr. Parker retired from the practice of his profession,
in August, 1895, he was the recognized leader, and father of the
profession in his native Province, and he has since been styled
" the Dean of Canadian Medicine." Such recognition was eulogis-
tically given him by his professional brethren in an address
presented to him by them at that time. His published reply to
this address embodies an interesting historical retrospect of the
progress of medicine and surgery in Nova Scotia during his pro-
fessional career. From this we learn that he was the first surgeon
in Nova Scotia, and probably in Canada, to employ an anesthetic
in surgery, first testing it upon himself to see if it would prove
harmless to his patient. Among the many tributes of esteem
rendered him at that time by the secular and religious press of
the Maritime Provinces, the following, from the " Presbyterian
Witness " of Halifax, perhaps embodies most concisely the general
sentiments expressed. " On the 1st August, Hon. Dr. Parker
attained to his ' golden jubilee ' as a physician. His career has
been long, and it has been honorable, stainless, and altogether
worthy of a Christian. He has been a public-spirited citizen,
showing his interest in all that concerned the welfare of the
people. For twenty-nine or thirty years he has been a member
of the Legislative Council. He has given of his time and means
unsparingly to help philanthropic and religious societies.
A member and trusted office-bearer of the Baptist Church, he
has at the same time manifested his generous interest in all
Christian work. It is not for us to speak of his admirable and
signally successful professional career. As a physician, he won
the respect and confidence of thousands, and he placed very many
under life-long obligations. We respectfully tender to Dr. Parker
cur congratulations, and we wish him many additional years of
usefulness. Our young physicians could hardly err in marking
the career of Dr. Parker, and in imitating as closely as may be
his devotion to his profession, his Christian integrity, his unswerv-
ing fidelity to principle, and the blameless purity of his whole
life."

22 DANIEL McNEILL AND HIS DESCENDANTS

Dr. Parker was twice married. His first marriage, on June
10th, 1847, was to Elizabeth Ritchie Johnstone, daughter of the
Honorable James W. Johnstone, Attorney-General of Nova Scotia,
and afterwards the Judge in Equity of that Province. Judge
Johnstone was of a Georgia family. His father, as a Loyalist,
having been obliged to flee the country, his mother, after the
father's death in Jamaica, made a new home in Nova Scotia.
By this marriage there was one son, James Johnstone Parker,
born August 15th, 1852, died July 1st, 1872, while a medical
student at the University of Edinburgh. The mother survived
the birth of her son only for a few days. On August 26th, 1854,
Dr. Parker married Fanny Holmes Black, daughter of the Honor-
able William Anderson Black, of Halifax, N.S., merchant, a
member of the Provincial Government with a seat in the Legisla-
tive Council. Mr. Black was a son of the Reverend William
Black, who was the first emissary of John Wesley in America,
and who sowed the earliest seeds of Wesleyan Methodism from
Upper Canada and Newfoundland to Maryland and the West
Indies. It is a curious coincidence that in 1774, the paternal
great-grandfathers, both of the doctor and the second Mrs.
Parker, came to Halifax from Hull, Yorkshire, in England,
strangers to each other, in the same ship. By his second marriage,
Dr. Parker had the following children : William Black Parker,
born April 26th, 1856, died April 28th, 1856. Mary Ann
Parker, born August 14th, 1857; married, July 25th, 1894,
Reverend Elias Miles Keirstead, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Moral
Philosophy and English Literature in Acadia College, Wolf-
ville, N. S. ; later Professor of Systematic Theology in McMaster
University at Toronto, Ont. Dr. Keirstead is a descendant of
Hans Keirstead, an early Dutch settler of Manhattan Island,
whose land comprised the site of Trinity Church, on Broadway,
New York City. His nearer ancestors were United Empire Loyal-
ists, expelled from their New York homes to found new ones in
the wilds of New Brunswick. Dr. Keirstead has a widespread
reputation throughout Canada and the United States for pro-
found scholarship and exceptional ability as a teacher and orator.
His cultured mind has been enriched by travel and study in
many lands. Ida McNeill Parker, born July 26th, 1859 ;
died May 25th, 1860. William Frederick Parker, born Sep-
tember 16th, 1860; married, April 5th, 1886, Kate Bell Welton,
daughter of the late Reverend Daniel Morse Welton, D.D., Ph.D.
(Leipsig), Professor of Semitic Languages at McMaster Univer-
sity, Toronto, Ontario, and earlier a professor at Acadia College
in his native Province of "Nova Scotia. Dr. Welton' s ancestors
were Loyalist refugees from Connecticut, driven from their homes
ftt the close of the Revolutionary War. His wife, Sarah Messenger,

DANIEL McNEILL and HIS DESCENDANTS 23

derives a Scottish ancestry through a Colonel Graham who com-
manded a Highland regiment under Wolfe at the taking of Quebec.
The Messengers were of New England stock. Mr. Parker was
educated at Halifax, N.S. ; Edinburgh, Scotland; Acadia College,
Wolfville, N.S.j and at Harvard University. Admitted to the Bar
of Nova Scotia on January 10th, 1885, he practised his profes-
sion for sixteen years at Halifax, and afterwards removed
to Wolfville, N.S., to reside, on account of impaired health.
Lauka McNeill Pakker, born May 30th, 1862; married,
October 26th, 1887, McCallum Grant, of Halifax, merchant, a
great-grandson of Captain Robert Grant, of the 42nd High-
landers, who has been referred to earlier as a friend and fellow-
soldier of Captain Daniel McNeill. Mr. Grant fills a large part
in Halifax commercial circles, and is Imperial Consul for Germany
at that port. Fanny Aline Parker, bom July 14th, 1868. She
is unmarried and resides with her parents at Dartmouth, N.S.

The children of Mary Ann Keirstead are: Ronald McNeill
Keirstead, born June 20th, 1895, and Mary Frances Keirstead,
born September 30th, 1896.

The children of William Frederick Parker are : Fred-
erick Daniel Parker, born April 5th, 1888; Arthur McNeill
Parker, born June 28th, 1895, and William Allan Parker, born
June 20th, 1901.

The children of Laura McNeill Grant are: Eric McNeill
Grant, born May 8th, 1889 ; Gerald Wallace Grant, born March
22nd, 1891; Margaret Frances Grant, born August 8th, 1893;
John Moreau Grant, born July 17th, 1895 ; Grainger Stewart
Grant, born July 5th, 1897; Harold Taylor Wood Grant, born
March 16th, 1899. It may interest the Southern reader to know
that the last-mentioned child was named, in part, for the late
Captain John Taylor Wood, of Halifax (a dear friend of the
family), who, during the Civil War in the United States, rendered
distinguished service to the South as Commander of the Con-
federate cruiser " Talahassee " ; as a lieutenant on the " Merrimac "
in her engagement with the United States fleet at Hampton Roads
which culminated in the famous duel with the " Monitor " ; also
as commander of a naval detachment in the defence of the James
River against the Northern gunboats. Captain Wood was a grand-
son of President Zachary Taylor (his mother being General
Taylor's eldest daughter), and a nephew (by marriage) of Presi-
dent Jefferson Davis, whose first wife was General Taylor's second
daughter. At the close of the war Captain Wood was on Presi-
dent Davis' staff with the rank of colonel, and was with him at
the time of his capture. After a romantic escape from his captors,
Captain Wood made his home in Halifax, N.S., where he died
in 1905.

24 DANIEL McNEILL AND HIS DESCENDANTS

3. John Nutting Pakker (born 1824, died September 26th,
1868, and buried in Liverpool, England), engaged in a seafaring
life and became commander of one of his father's ship3, trading
mostly between China and Great Britain. In 1868 he was
accidentally drowned at Liverpool, England, where his ship was
lying. He never married.

4. Frederick H. Parker (born in 1825, died December 3rd,
1858), like his brothers James and John, went to sea from his
boyhood, and became a captain in his father's service. His voy-
ages took him chiefly to the Indian and China seas and the
Mediterranean, in the barque " Walton." He too, lost his life
in following his profession. He was never married. His body
was interred at Cardiff, Wales.

5. Wentworth Foster Parker was born at Walton in 1828.
He began life as a clerk in a bank at Windsor, N.S., and after-
wards engaged in business in Walton. He married Eliza Mary
Eatchford Crane, of Cumberland County, N.S., a daughter of
Silas Hibbert Crane. The Cranes were of a New England Loyal-
ist family, exiled after the Revolutionary War. Mr. Parker's
career was short. He died on October 18th, 1868.

The children of Wentworth Foster Parker are: Susan
Haliburton, died in infancy; Anne Chandler, born at Walton,
January 13th, 1861. She took up the profession of a nurse,
receiving her training at the Boston City Hospital, where she
became a superintendent of nurses. For some years Miss Parker
has been the superintendent of the Hale Hospital at Haverhill,
Mass. ; Janet McNeill, born at Walton, September 13thx 1863,
died at Amherst, N.S., October 27th, 1889, unmarried. Helen
Sophia Grant, born November 21st, 1866. Resides with her
mother at Amherst, N.S.

6. Francis Grant Parker was born at Walton, Hants County,
Nova Scotia, August 15th, 1830. In early life he was engaged in
business in Chicago, and afterwards in New York. In 1864 he
began business in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a wholesale dealer in
flour, tea and salt. Later he engaged in the milling of flour, in
partnership with his brother-in-law, John Grant. He was active
in promoting the manufacturing interests of Halifax, and was
a public-spirited citizen. He was President of the Nova Scotia
Cotton Mills Company, and of the Starr Manufacturing Company,
whose business consists in the making of the Starr " Acme " patent
skate, and in all kinds of iron and steel manufacture, including
the construction of bridges. He was also a Director of the People's
Bank of Halifax, a chartered bank of Canada. He was actively
engaged in politics, and was the first President of the "Morning
Herald " Printing and Publishing Company, which, in his time,
conducted the chief Nova Scotia newspaper in the interests of the
Conservative party.

DANIEL McNEILL and HIS DESCENDANTS 25

About 1895 Mr. Parker retired from business, having become
a prey to inflammatory rheumatism, which confined him much of
the time to his home.

On June 5th, 1867, he married Marianne Grant, daughter of
John Nutting Grant, of Loyal Hill, and a great-granddaughter
of Captain Robert Grant of the 42nd Highlanders. There were
no children of the marriage. Mr. Parker died on the 9th day of
August, 1905. His wife survives him. He was of an ardent,
impulsive, generous and loving temperament. A friend to the
poor and to every good cause calling for benevolence or charity,
a friend of every child within a wide radius of his home, especially
devoted to his entire family connection, his memory is ever fresh ;
for " to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."

1. Maey Sophia Parker was born at Walton in 1834. She
inarmed Charles Rathburn Allison of Windsor, N.S., merchant,
in 1857. In 1875 she became a widow, and afterwards resided
with her father until his death. She died at Hampton, New
Brunswick, July 22nd, 1898. Her seven children are:
(1) Frederick Allison, died in infancy; (2) Frances Allison,
died in infancy; (3) Foster Allison, who followed the sea and
became a captain in the merchant service. He died on board his
ship, of yellow fever, at Havana, June 23rd, 1882, aged about 22.
He was unmarried; (4) Mary McNeill Allison, born September
6th, 1861, married, April 20th, 1887, Rev. Charles Arthur
Warneford, of New Brunswick, an Episcopal clergyman, son
of Rev. Edmund Arthur Warneford, a native of Surrey, England.
She died in the Province of New Brunswick on August 7th, 1888,
leaving no child; (5) Harriet Penniston Allison, born Novem-
ber 18th, 1864, married, July 20th, 1888, Percy H. Warneford,
of Hampton, New Brunswick, Physician, a brother of her sister
Mary's husband. She died at Hampton, April 26th, 1905, survived
by her husband and the following children: Arthur Kemys
Sweeting Warneford, born April 9th, 1890; Harry McNeill
Warneford, born April 17th, 1892; Eric Percy Warneford,
born June 9th, 1897; (6) Charles Rathburn Allison, born in
1866, went to sea when a boy and became a master's mate on a
Nova Scotia ship. During the summer of 1886, while on a voyage
to Central America from the West Indies, the officers and crew
were stricken with yellow fever, and among those who died and
were buried at sea was young Allison. The ship was found in the
Gulf of Mexico with two or three dying men on board and was
towed to port; (7) Frank Hector Allison, born in 1872, died
at Amherst, N.S., March 11th, 1889.

In consequence of the loss of Francis Parker's family Bible in
a fire which destroyed Dr. Warneford's house at Hampton, certain
dates in the foregoing narrative cannot be supplied.

26 DANIEL McNEILL AND HIS DESCENDANTS

Descendants of Sophia Margaret McNeill.

Sophia Margaret McNeill was twice married. Her first
husband, whom she married, probably in 1809, was Stephen
Teriiune, who was of a Loyalist family from New York, settled
in Hants County. Of this marriage there were four children:
Daniel McNeill Terhune, born September 6th, 1810 ; Mary
Ann Terhune, born May 13th, 1812 ; Sarah Eliza Terhune,
born April 23rd, 1814; and Janet Belinda Terhune, born June
15th, 1816; died April 17th, 1869. Save in the case of Janet
Belinda, further records of the Terhune family cannot now be
ascertained. The children and grandchildren have removed to
the United States, where they seem to have scattered widely.
Daniel McNeill, Mary Anne and Sarah Eliza are dead, and their
descendants have not communicated with their Nova Scotia kins-
folk. Daniel's son, Alpheus, resides in Everett, Mass., Sarah
Eliza married a Salter, and a son of hers lives in Hantsport, N.S.
Janet Belinda Terhune, married, February 23rd, 1835,
Isaac O'Brien of Noel, Hants County, farmer. Mr. O'Brien
died March 29th, 1894. Their children are: (1) Adela O'Brien,
born January 21st, 1836, married January 18th, 1859, Isaac O.
Christie, of Truro, Colchester County, N.S., farmter, who died
May 13th, 1862; (2) Lorenzo O'Brien, shipbuilder, born June
24th, 1838, married December 14th, 1865, Margaret Stirling of
Maitland, Hants County, N.S. They are now living in Humbolt
County, California. They have no children; (3) Albert S.
O'Brien, born September 10th, 1843; drowned at sea May 13th,
1865 ; unmarried.

The children of Isaac O. and Adela Christie are : ( 1 ) John
Christie, electrician, born October 22nd, 1859 ; married Decem-
ber 17th, 1890, Mary Adelia Ruggles, of Weymouth, Digby
County, N.S., and who has three children: Marjory Adela,
born April 13th, 1892, died January 30th, 1902; Andrew
Campbell, born December 4th, 1893, and Mary Alice, born June
7th, 1900. (2) Isaac O. Christie, Jr., born December 13th,
1861; married December 2nd, 1886, Lillie Archibald of Truro,
N.S. ; died in Nevada, April 16th, 1906. His widow and one son,
Alexander L., born October 16th, 1887, survive him, and reside
in Boston, Mass.

The Second Husband of Sophia Margaret McNeill
(Teriiune) was William Parker, of Walton, to whom she was
married on March 19th, 1820. He was born in Hants County,
N.S., September 10th, 1792, and was an elder brother of Francis
Parker, the husband of Mary Janet, the elder sister of Sophia
Margaret. William Parker's earlier life was spent at sea. At the
age of twenty-eight, after he had been for some years a sea captain,

DANIEL McNEILL and his DESCENDANTS 27

he relinquished that profession and took up farming at Walton.
He was a man of fine parts, resembling his brother in most char-
acteristics, save that Francis was of a more energetic, impetuous
and sanguine temperament. William was a man universally
respected, and beloved by all the large circle of his family and
his friends. In point of character and accomplishments as well as
in appearance, there was a strong resemblance between the sisters
Sophia and Janet Parker.

The Walton farmhouse (with "the latch outside") and the
" Squire's " home vied with each other as centres of family attrac-
tion and a boundless hospitality. William Parker died at Walton,
August 18th, 1874, within a month of 83 years of age. Sophia
Margaret, his wife, died at Walton December 19th, 1875, aged 83.

Descendants of William Parker and Sophia Margaret

Parker.

The children of William and Sophia Margaret Parker are:
Caroline, Archibald McNeill, Mary Walton, William Dixon and
Ellen Sophia.

1. Caroline Parker was born January 1st, 1821. She
married, December 22nd, 1840, Thomas Parker, of Colchester
County, N.S., farmer, who was born October 6th, 1816, and was
a descendant of one of the Yorkshire Parker immigrants of 1774.
Her husband died March 9th, 1889. Their children are:
(1) Belinda Parker, born September 22nd, 1841; (2) William
Parker, born September 29th, 1843; (3) Mary Parker, born
June 4th, 1846. In 1871 Mary married in Boston, Mass.,
William Richard Dingwall. Their children are: Nelson
Webster Dingwall, born in Boston January 31st, 1872, who
married June 2nd, 1896, Christine Rethwisch, of Port au Prince,
Haiti, West Indies, and has the following children: Dorothy
Lorna, born October 28th, 1900, in New York City; Eleanor
Emily, born June 19th, 1902, died July 12th, 1904; Beatrice,
born November 7th, 1.903 ; Caroline Parker Dingwall, born in
Boston, Mass., who married in 1898, at Souris, Prince Edward
Island, Henry P. Duchemin, and has the following children:
E. Parker, born June 15th, 1899 ; Adela Irene, born December
19th, 1900; Roy DesBarres, born June 22nd, 1902; Rohan
Compton, born June 15th, 1905 ; Belinda Landelles Dingwall,
born at Fortune Bridge, Prince Edward Island ; Adella Ding-
wall, born at Fortune Bridge, P.E.I. ; Chester Dingwall, born
at South Lake, P.E.I., deceased. (4) George Parker, born
January 24th, 1849. He was for some years in business in
Halifax, N.S., but is now doing business in Sydney, N.S. George
married at Halifax, N.S., December 7th, 1872, Hannah Thompson
(born February 20th, 1847), and has the following children:

28 DANIEL McNEILL AND HIS DESCENDANTS

Belinda, born October 12th, 1873; married Joseph A. Ervin,
of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, January 21st, 1903 ; George,
born December 26th, 1874; Charles, born October 28th, 1876;
Allen, bom December 7th, 1879; Burton, born October
10th, 1883; Caroline, born November 26th, 1887; Ethel,
born April 12th, 1890. (5) Samuel Parker, born April
22nd, 1851. (6) Joseph Parker, born September 11th, 1853.
(7) Sophia McNeill Parker, born August 21st, 1856. She
married January 1st, 1874, William Irvine Boomer, of Sydney,
Nova Scotia, and has the following children: Ira Leigh, born
June 10th, 1875, who married, November 15th, 1902, Marion
McKenzie, and resides at Montreal, Canada; Muriel Beatrice,
born February 22nd, 1880, who married, April 13th, 1905,
Nelson F. Kennedy; Gertrude Caroline, born February
]2th, 1890. (8) Henry Parker, born September 25th, 1859.
(9) Margaret Parker, born March 31st, 1864; married
January 6th, 1885, Burton Fulton, of Colchester County, N.S.,
who was born February 20th, 1862. Their children are: Foster
Leland Fulton, born November 7th, 1887; Caroline Gertrude
Fulton, born January 17th, 1889 ; Nellie Parker Fulton, born
April 2nd, 1891; Mary Elina Fulton, born September 3rd, 1893;
Muriel Louise Fulton, born October 21st, 1896 ; Henry Burton
Fulton, born November 5th, 1898.

2. Archibald McNeill Parker was born January 11th,
1823, at Walton, where he spent part of his life in farming. He
was never married. Deprived, by lameness, of many of life's
activities, he read widely and cultivated intellectual tastes. For
many years he was collector of customs of the Port. He had a
striking personality and a genial, warm-hearted disposition.
Anyone regarding the celebrated picture of Sir Walter Scott and
his friends at Abbotsford, can see in James Hogg, " the Ettrick
Shepherd," an almost perfect portrait of Archibald McNeill
Parker. He died at Walton, December 8th, 1890.

3. Mary Walton Parker, born April 1st, 1825, married
Michael Terhune Parker, of Walton, builder and farmer,
December 22nd, 1843. He was a first cousin of his wife, being
the son of Joseph, who was the son of John Parker. She died
September 3rd, 1904. Her husband is still living. Their children
are: (1) Rupert Eaton Parker, who married in June, 1868,
Susan Parker of Walton, and died in 1878, leaving the following
children: Edith, who died in July, 1904; Maynard, who died in
November, 1904; Clifford Mosher and Almon Rupert;
(2) Caroline Parker, who married in October, 1869, Captain
C. W. M. Geitzler, of Norway. She died in January, 1881, and
her husband, while in command of a ship, was drowned off
Delaware Breakwater in March, 1888. Their children are:

DANIEL McNEILL AND HIS DESCENDANTS 29

Hector Frantz, who died May 2nd, 1880 ; Julia Maude, Arthur
Leland, a sea captain, and Charles Rupert Geitzler; (3) Abtiiur
Dixon Paekee, a contractor in Truro, N.S., who married in
January, 1880, Lillian Bigelow, of Kingsport, Kings County, N.S.,
and has the following children : Clara Blanche, Mary Josephine,
Ethel Elizabeth ; Helen Gwendoline ; Vera Lois ; Arthur Bernard ;
(4) Norman William Paekee, born September 10th, 1849;
married November 3rd, 1875, to Emiline Crowe (born February
15th, 1855). Their children are: Lillian, born September 30th,
1876, who is a school teacher; Archibald Stewart, born November
8th, 1878, who is a builder and unmarried ; Elmore Nutting, born
December 31st, 1880, and who is a seaman, unmarried; Partis
Fulton, born December 15th, 1882, and Carl Richmond, born
September 6th, 1895; (5) Ada Sophia Paekee, married Septem-
ber 1876, to Silvius J. Lake of Cheverie, Hants County, of which
marriage there are the following children : Eva Blanche, Gertrude
Maud, Ethel Winnifred (died in February, 1880), Irene Madge,
Hector, Bertha R., Perry Parker and Trenholm; (6) Edgae M.
Paekee, died in infancy, 1855; (7) Irene Maegaeet Paekee,
married in May, 1880, Charles P. Cochrane, of Windsor, N.S., a
sea captain, who died at sea in April, 1897. The widow survives,
with three children : Madge Irene, Muriel F. and Charles
Maxwelton; (8) Lawrence Edgar Parker, married in August,
1887, Annie Ellen Hunter, of Newport, N.S. He is a sea captain.
The. children of Captain Parker are Grace Lenore, Annie Laurie,
Albertha, Clyde Whitney, Nila, and Howard Bligh; (9) Geeteude
Maude, died unmarried, in 1881; (10) Lena Caelotta, the
youngest child of Mary Walton Parker and Michael Terhune
Parker, married J. W. Boomer, of Sydney, N.S.

4. William Dixon Paekee, of Walton, farmer, was born
April 27th, 1831, and on January 10th, 1853, he married Hannah
Archibald Braden (born April 22nd, 1832), daughter of Samuel
Braden, Esq., and Mary Logan Braden, of Musquodoboit, Halifax
County, N.S. The children of William Dixon Parker are:
(1) Heney Angus Paekee, of Walton, farmer, born December
13th, 1853, who married, December 31st, 1879, Mary Janet Weir
of Walton, and has three children: Julia Frances, born October
8th, 1880; Foster Leland, born October 23rd, 1882; Harry Weir,
born September 20th, 1891; (2) Fostee Beaden Paekee, of
Walton, farmer, born December 9th, 1855, who married, June
14th, 1899, Mabel Pooley, of London, England, and has one child,
Margaret Favell, born September 19th, 1905 ; (3) Maeion Sophia
Paekee, born September 22nd, 1857, who married, January 1st,
1883, Hibbert Binney Weir, of Walton, and has the following
children: William Parker Weir, born December 12th, 1883;
Frederick Harold Weir, born February 5th, 1886; Edna Marion

30 DANIEL McNEILL and his descendants

Weir, born September 25th, 1888; Percy Braden Weir, born June
25th, 1895; Caroline Frances Weir, who died in infancy, March
1st, 1900, and Ernest Conradi Weir, who died in infancy, May
19th, 1903 ; (4) William Parker, a retired sea captain residing
m Boston, Mass., who was born September 21st, 1859, and married,
March 4th, 1889, Kathleen Davison, of Hantsport, N.S. His
children are: Ernest Wellesley, born January 11th, 1891; Frank
Watson, born March 19th, 1895 ; George Bertrand, born December
17th, 1897 ; Rex Arnold, born January 6th, 1899 ; Adria Valentine,
born February 14th, 1900 ; William Dixon, born July 2nd, 1902 ;
Evelyn May, born April 4th, 1906; (5) Percy Parker, a sea
captain, born January 5th, 1862 ; married August 5th, 1893, Isabel
Mary Patterson, of Yarmouth, N.S. ; died in New York City,
April 30th, 1905, leaving his wife and two children; Mary
Dorothy, born September 12th, 1894, and Jack Walton, born
July 18th, 1896; (6) Mary Janet Parker, born December 11th,
1863; married March 25th, 1885, George William Bradshaw, of
Windsor, N.S., and has the following children: Helen Madge
Bradshaw, born May 5th, 1886; Bertha Jean Bradshaw, born
December 4th, 1888; Janet Mary Bradshaw, born August 20th,
1891; Isabel Margaret Bradshaw, born September 23rd, 1893.
George William Bradshaw, died June 22nd, 1897; (7) Samuel
Adams Parker, born December 9th, 1865, is a sea captain, and
is unmarried; (8) Ernest Leslie Parker, born September 10th,
1867, who is a merchant in Boston, Mass., and married, October
16th, 1894, Sarah Morris, of Walton. He has three children:
Max Yerxa, born August 18th, 1895 ; Helena Morris, born Decem-
ber 4th, 1897; Ernestine Mildred, born February 19th, 1901;
(9) Caroline Parker, born June 17th, 1870, who married,
July 30th, 1895, Avard Longley Starratt, of Annapolis County,
N.S., a sea captain. They live in Walton and have two children:
Ralph Parker Starratt, born July 17th, 1896, and Francklyn
Zwicker Starratt, born June 20th, 1904; (10) Helen Wing
Parker, born December 15th, 1872, who resides with her parents
at Walton, and is unmarried; (11) Bertrand Everett Parker,
born November 5th, 1875; died unmarried, May 19th, 1901.

5. Ellen Sophia Parker, born December 8th, 1834, married
Joseph Moxon, of Walton, now a. contractor and builder in the
vicinity of Boston, Mass. They have several children. Their
present location is unknown.

Wolfville, N.S.,

September, 1906.

DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

CHAPTER I.

THE PARKER FAMILY.

" Nor you, ye Proud, impute to these the fault,
If Memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise,
Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise."

— Gray.

It is to be noted at the outset, that this family, so far as
known, is not connected with the Parkers of Annapolis and Kings
Counties in Nova Scotia, who derive their ancestry through settlers
from the New England colonies.

Our earliest progenitor of this name of whom we have any
knowledge is John Parker, originally of Plympton, near Knares-
borough, in the Parish of Spanforth, Yorkshire, England. He was
born, probably, near the close of the seventeenth century, and
died previous to the year 1769. In his later years he appears to
have resided at Cold Carum, Yorkshire. He was a farmer and
grazier. In religion the family were Quakers. His wife, Mary,
whose maiden name has not been preserved by any record known
to us, was born at Plympton in the year 1700, and died at the
home of her son, William Parker, senior, near Windsor, Nova
Scotia, May 27th, 1780.

John and Mary had the following children:

1. Francis, born at Plympton in 1738; died at Shuben-
acadie, Nova Scotia, May 3rd, 1800.

2. Joseph, born at Plympton, in 1740; died at Newport,
Nova Scotia, September 9th, 1815.

3. William (distinguished hereafter as William Parker,
senior) born at Cold Carum, in the Parish of Kilburn, Yorkshire,
February, 1742; died at Rawdon, Nova Scotia, September 17th,
1819.

On the 10th of January, 1769, at Masham, Yorkshire, William
(Senior) married Mary Hardaker, daughter of Thomas and Mary

32 DANIEL McNEILL pabker, m.d.

Hardaker, of Ullishaw, near Masham, in the Parish of Kirby
Moorside, Yorkshire. Mary Hardaker, wife of this William
Parker, was born at Cold Carum, in January, 1734, and died at
Rawdon, Nova Scotia, December 30th, 1810. Her father, Thomas,
died at Bromley Grange, near Ripon, in Yorkshire, April 4th,
1785. No other information concerning her family has been
transmitted to her descendants, except that they were Quakers.
William and Mary Parker were married according to the quaint
and simple rite of the Quakers, which had become recognized by
English law. The Friends held that marriage was the Lord's
joining of man and woman, and therefore was not performed by
man. Men were but witnesses. The following is a copy of the
record of this marriage ceremony. It served as the marriage
certificate.

" William Parker, of Cold Carum, in the Parish of Kilburn,
and County of York, Husbandman, son of John Parker (deceased)
and Mary, his wife, late of Plympton in the Parish of Span-
forth and County aforesaid, and Mary Hardaker, daughter of
Thomas Hardaker, and Mary, his wife, of Ullishaw, in the Parish
of Kirby Moorside and County aforesaid, having declared their
intentions of taking each other in marriage, before several meet-
ings of the people called Quakers, in the County aforesaid, and the
proceedings of the said William Parker and Mary Hardaker,
after due enquiry and deliberate consideration thereof, were
allowed by the said meetings, they appearing clear of all others,
and having their parents' consent and relations concerned.

" Now these are to certify all whom it may concern that for the
accomplishing of their said marriage this 10th day of the first
month (called) January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand
seven hundred and sixty nine, they, the said William Parker
and Mary Hardaker, appeared in a public assembly of the afore-
said people and others in their meeting house at Masham, in the
County aforesaid, and he, the said William Parker, taking the
said Mary Hardaker by the hand, did openly and solemnly declare
as followeth:

" Friends, in the fear of the Lord and before this assembly,
I take this my friend Mary Hardaker to be my wife, promis-
ing thro' divine assistance to be unto her a loving and faithful
husband, until it shall please the Lord by death to separate us
(or words to that effect) and the said Mary Hardaker did then
and there in the said assembly in like manner declare as followeth:

" Friends, in the fear of the Lord and before this assembly,
I take this my friend William Parker to be my husband, promis-
ing through divine assistance to be unto him a loving and faith-
ful wife until it shall please the Lord by death to separate us
(or words to that effect) and the said William Parker and Mary

THE PARKER FAMILY

Hardaker as a further confirmation thereof, and in testimony
thereunto did then and there to these presents set their hands.

" Sgd. William Parker.
" Sgd. Mary Hardaker.

" We whose names are hereunto subscribed being present among
others at the solemnizing of the above said marriage and subscrip-
tion in manner aforesaid as witnesses have also to these presents
subscribed our names the day and year above written.

" Sgd. JOHN HoLESWORTH, SlMON HUTCHINSON, MaNTREW

Thompson, Richard Thompson, Thos. Hardcastle,
Mulden, Elizabeth Fulton, Esther Kel-
vin, Lydia Kelvin, Mary Kelvin, John Binks,
Richard Binks, Mary Weatherhead, Edith Holds-
worth, Armistead Fielden, Catherine Wells.

" Relations.

" Sgd. Thos. Hardaker, A. Fred Parker, Elizabeth Cold-
beck, Joseph Parker, John Coldbeck, Sarah
Parker, William Johnson, Mary Parker, Henry
Hardaker, William Thistlethwaite, Saml. Ash-
ton, Thos. Cook, John Janson, John Thompson,
Eliz. Thompson."

Stamp

Shillings

According to the custom, this record would be entered in the
Friends' register of births, deaths, and marriages kept at Masham,
or at Richmond, in the North Riding.

The list of "relations" who signed as witnesses opens up
interesting speculations as to families in England to whom the
Parkers are allied.

The parties to this marriage, William Parker, senior, and
Mary Hardaker, were the great-grandparents of my father Daniel
McNeill Parker. John Parker, above referred to as our earliest
known progenitor, and Mary, his wife, were my father's great-
great-grandparents. From my children (inclusive) to the last
named ancestors there are thus seven generations.

Of the lives or condition of the Parkers in Yorkshire, no
record or tradition remains to us. As appears by the marriage
3

34 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

record William was a farmer. They lived in a part of England
where breeding live stock for the London market was a consider-
able industry, and doubtless some of them were graziers as well
as farmers.

It was only in 1722 that the Act for the relief of the Quakers
from their political disabilities was passed. Previous to that,
under their form of affirmation in lieu of an oath, they were
unable to answer in Courts of Equity, take probates of wills,
prove debts on commissions of bankruptcy, take up their freedoms,
and to poll their votes at elections, as freeholders. John Parker's
father, and possibly, he himself, lived during the fierce persecu-
tion and stubborn resistance of the Quakers under the Conventicle
Act in the reign of Charles II. The father of John was doubtless
living when the founder of the Religious Society of Friends,
George Fox, in the year 1658, shortly before Cromwell's death,
" laid the suffering of Friends before him," when, as Fox wrote,
" before I came to him as he rode at the head of his life guards, I
saw and felt a waft of death go forth against him; and when I
came to him he looked like a dead man." Between the years
1661 and 1697 over 13,000 Friends were imprisoned in England,
198 were transported as slaves, and 338 died in prison or of
wounds received in assaults while attending meetings; and for
the sole cause of professing and practising their religious beliefs.
This historical setting of these forefathers of ours I thus briefly
sketch because, without doubt, the moral and religious fibre of
such ancestors as these bluff and sturdy Quaker Yorkshiremen
schooled by family tradition and actual knowledge to " hold fast
the form of sound words," even at the cost of imprisonment,
banishment, wounds and death itself, became the heritage, by
blood, of Daniel McNeill Parker. Such an ancestry, in large
measure, may account for certain temperamental qualities which
he had, as also for the strength and depth of his religious nature
and convictions, with their practical manifestation in his life.

Two sons were born to William Parker, senior, and Mary,
his wife, in Yorkshire, namely, John Parker, born March 8th,

1771, at Ullishaw, and William Parker, junior, born August 16th,

1772. This son, John, was the grandfather of my father.

In the year 1758 Governor Lawrence of Nova Scotia had
issued a proclamation inviting settlers from the older American
Colonies to come in and take up the lands of the French Neutrals,
or Acadians, who had been deported, mainly in 1755. Public
interest in Great Britain and Ireland was also aroused, soon
afterwards, by the advantageous inducements thus held out ; and,
about 1760, immigrants from the old country began to arrive
in Nova Scotia in considerable numbers. During the period of
emigration which followed, four different parties came from

THE PARKER FAMILY 35

Yorkshire, the first arriving in 1772. In the 178th chapter of
Knight's History of England, volume 6, there is an account of
the discouraging conditions of rural Yorkshire at this period,
due in part to what would be called general " hard times " in
England, in part to the exhaustion of the soil through many
generations of antiquated and unprogressive methods of farming,
and in part to the inability of the people to extend the area of
cultivation in proportion to the growth of population. The
Marquis of Rockingham, leader of the Whig party, Sir Digby
Legard, the Earl of Darlington, Mr. Danby, and other large
landed proprietors of the shire were just beginning their public-
spirited and ultimately successful labors for the amelioration of
these conditions. Mr. Danby was a colliery owner at Swinton,
near Masham, the town where William Parker was married, and
which was in the immediate vicinity of Ullishaw, the home of
Mary Hardaker before her marriage, and where William appears
to have located after that event. At this period the older
American colonies were seething with discontent, and already
startling overt acts of rebellion had occurred; the people were
organizing and arming for the inevitable war for independence.

From such circumstances as these it is not difficult to con-
jecture why the four parties of Yorkshire folk referred to should
emigrate, and choose Nova Scotia for their future home, nor
why our ancestors should join them.

The three brothers, Francis, Joseph, and William Parker,
senior, sons of John, with their wives and families, embarked
at Hull, Yorkshire, for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 5th day of
March, 1774, and landed at Halifax on the 7th day of May
following. Emigrants at that time usually came in slow-sailing
brigs, which fact may account for the length of this voyage.
Their widowed mother, Mary, accompanied them.

The names of the wives of Francis and Joseph, who were of
the party, were, respectively Mary; born in Yorkshire in 1737,
died at Shubenacadie, N.S., October 17th, 1809; and Elizabeth,
born in Yorkshire, died at Newport, N.S.

William brought with him his two children, John, three years
of age, and William, Junior, a baby of nineteen months. By what
seems a singular coincidence, William Black, my mother's great-
grandfather (the father of the future Reverend William Black)
was a fellow passenger with the great-grandparents and the
infant grandfather of my father on this voyage. Dr. Richey, the
Reverend William Black's biographer, says : " His father having
for some time entertained the design of emigrating to America,
deemed it prudent to visit the intended land of his adoption him-
self, before he should finally determine on a step so deeply
involving the future fortunes of his family. Accordingly, in

36 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

the spring of 1774, he came to Nova Scotia, purchased an estate
at Amherst in the County of Cumberland, and returning to Eng-
land in the autumn, moved to America with his family the
ensuing Spring."

Owing to the discovery of William Parker's family record, I am
able thus to correct the tradition, given in my monograph on Daniel
McNeill and his descendants, that the Parkers came out in the
brig " Jenny " in April, 1775, when William Black, Senior,
brought out his family, including his young son, the future dis-
tinguished Wesleyan pioneer preacher.

The three immigrant Parker brothers settled as follows : Francis
on a farm at Shubenacadie ; Joseph at Mantua, a section of New-
port, near Windsor, on a farm known later as the John Allison
farm; William, also near Windsor on a property which he desig-
nates in his record as " Margaret Farm." The mother went to
live with her son William. It is very probable that each of these
three farms had belonged to deported French Acadians. Some
years passed, after the main body of these unhappy people had
been removed in 1755, before all the farm properties from which
they had been torn were taken up. As late as 1762 the Acadians
were still being removed, and in 1765 there were many of them
imprisoned at Fort Edward in Piziquid (later called Windsor),
only nine years before the arrival of the Parkers.

When they came to this Province Francis was 38 years of age,
Joseph 34 and William 32.

At " Margaret Farm " three more sons and a daughter were
born to William, senior, and Mary his wife, namely, Thomas
Parker, born October 28th, 1774, whose birth was registered at a
monthly meeting of Friends at Richmond in Yorkshire ; Mary
Parker, born February 9th, 1777 ; Joseph Parker, born May 5th,
1779, and Francis Parker, born July 25th, 1782. The only other
known family event connected with " Margaret Farm " is the death
of the elder William's mother, Mary, which occurred there May
27th, 1780, at the age of 80.

Sometime previous to the year 1810, William Parker, senior,
removed to Rawdon, in Hants County. His daughter Mary had
married Timothy Dimock at Petite (afterwards Walton), Decem-
ber 29th, 1795, and they had settled in Rawdon. His sons Joseph
and Francis had also founded homes there, where they both
married in 1805. His sons John and William, junior, had settled
at Petite and had married, John on November 8th, 1791, and
William on November 25th, 1793. This accounts for the mar-
riage of their sister Mary taking place there.

Thomas Parker, the first son of William, senior, to be born in
this province, settled at Newport, where he married on January
21st, 1804.

THE PARKER FAMILY 37

Mary (Hardaker) Parker, wife of William, senior, died at
Rawdon on December 30th, 1810. Of the life there he records this
incident, — the only attempt at narration which his family chron-
icle makes. I give it in his own words : " A remarkable acci-
dent happened in my family the 16th day of the eleventh month,
1812. The two daughters, one of Timothy Dimock, the other of
Francis Parker, namely Hannah Dimock, aged nine years and
ten m'ths, & Elizabeth Parker, aged six years and ten m'ths, being
sent to drive in a cow about three o'clock of the above day, the cow
turning into the woods, the children followed and became bewil-
dered. Leaving the cow, they tried to make their way home or to
their uncle's house, but, missing their way, made into the wilder-
ness. An alarm was made to their neighbours. A band of twelve
men was quickly raised who exerted themselves to the best of their
knowledge, seeking them till past three in the morning, about which
time the moon set, and then for some time it had snowed and was
very cold, though not much frost. By morning a considerable
of snow had fallen. About sunrise fifty men went in search of
them, and about nine in the morning, to the astonishment of the
greatest part of the searchers, found them, hearing them hullow
in answer to the men's hullow one for another. They were found
in perfect health, with a good appetite. They were lightly clothed
and bare-headed."

From this narration it will be seen that William continued to
record his dates according to the old Quaker method. Throughout
his chronicle he never uses the heathen names of the months, but
numbers them.

Beyond the circumstance that William, senior, caused the birth
of his son Thomas to be recorded in the Quaker register at home,
as has been stated above, there is nothing to show to what extent,
or for what length of time the family continued in the Quaker con-
nexion. There was no Society of Friends in Nova Scotia when
they came to the Province, and I am not aware that there ever
has been one. The descendants of the immigrant brothers for the
most part connected themselves with the Church of England.
Others worshipped with the religious congregations which hap-
pened to be nearest them. In point of religious association, the
family became divided, through the influences of neighborhood or
environment. But nevertheless the inheritance of the Quaker
lineage has often revealed itself in certain family characteristics.
The forms of faith have passed, but their ethical import and influ-
ence have remained ; though it must be confessed that, sometimes,
there has occurred that natural deterioration from type which is
sure to affect, in some degree, the scions of an older civilization
when grafted upon the crude and rougher conditions of a remote
colony upon the frontier of human habitation.

38 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

In the year 1815 William Parker, senior, his sons and his son-
in-law, Timothy Dimock acquired large tracts of land at and about
Petite Riviere, where there had formerly been a small settlement
of French Acadians. The name, in time, had become abbreviated
to "Petite." The following grants are of record in the Crown
Land Office at Halifax. The inclusion of Michael B. Grant and
James W. Nutting in the grants is explained by their connection
with the family, which appears later.

Book E, page 125. Grant, dated June 3rd, 1815, to Michael
B. Grant, of Newport, Francis Parker, John Parker, William
Parker the third, Joseph Parker and Thomas Parker, of 2,225
acres, divided thus: To Michael B. Grant, Lot 1, 325 acres, and
Lot 2, 175 acres. To Francis Parker, Lot 3, 202 acres, and Lot
7, 148 acres. To John Parker, Lot 4, 450 acres. To William
Parker the third, Lot 5, 200 acres. To Joseph Parker, 350 acres.
To Thomas Parker, 375 acres.

William Parker the third, here mentioned, is the eldest son
of John, my father's favorite " Uncle Willie," who was at this
time about twenty-three years of age.

Book E, page 129. Grant, dated June 26th, 1815, to William
Parker, senior, William Parker, junior, James W. Nutting,
Timothy Dimock and John Warren, of 1,900 acres, divided thus:
To William Parker, senior. Lot 3, 200 acres. To William Parker,
junior, Lot 5, 375 acres, and Lot 6, 125 acres. To James W.
Nutting, Lot 1, 500 acres, and the remaining 700 acres to Dimock
and Warren.

The last named grantee does not appear to have been connected
with the family. William Parker, senior, owned land in the
vicinity earlier. In his family record there is this entry : " I
bought the lands at Petite of Wm. Graham, of Halifax, in the 4th
month, 1781, and all the writings are registered in Halifax register
office."

In the year 1797, Captain Daniel McNeill had acquired by
grant his estate, " Cambridge," adjacent to Petite, the record of
the grant in the Crown Land Office being as follows: Book 20,
page 48. Grant dated December 18th, 1797, to Daniel McNeill,
" A half-pay captain in His Majesty's service." This land, esti-
mated at one thousand acres in extent, is described by metes and
bounds in Description Book 5, page 254. It is situated on the
south-western shore of the river, and its frontage extends thence
southerly along the shore of Minas Basin.

The Parkers, Grants, McNeills, Nuttings, Dimocks and other
families were now becoming associated in and near the com-
munity afterwards to be known as Walton, which was to be the
future centre of the Parker family life for many years.

THE PARKER FAMILY 39

William Parker, senior, died of apoplexy, at Rawdon, Sep-
tember 17th, 1819, in his seventy-eighth year.

I have now brought down the lineage of my father to his grand-
father, John, eldest son of William, senior. After John had
settled at Petite he married, November 8th, 1791, Sarah Grant,
daughter of Captain Robert Grant, of Loyal Hill, concerning whom
I have furnished some particulars in my other narrative. John
was a bridegroom of 20, and Sarah a bride of 17.

Of this marriage there were the following children :

William Parker, born September 10th, 1792 ; Hannah Parker,
born June 11th, 1795; Francis Parker, born January 17th, 1797;
Joseph Parker, born February 28th, 1799; John Grant Parker,
born March 9th, 1801. The third child, Francis, was the father
of Daniel McNeill Parker.

Sarah (Grant) Parker died at Petite on the 31st of October,
1802, " aged 28 years 7 m'ths, married 11 years wanting 10 days,"
as her father-in-law has minutely set it down in his chronicle.
John Parker subsequently married Sarah Lockhart; and of this
second marriage the children were: Wentworth, Maria, Thomas
Woodbury, Daniel Dixon, Sophia, Collingwood, Charles and
Michael.

John Parker died at Petite June 25th, 1854, aged 83. A brief
account of his children, other than William and Francis, with
whom I have dealt in my other narrative, seems in order here. I
recall a few facts which my father told me relating to his uncles
and aunts.

Hannah died early.

Joseph married his cousin, Jane Parker, born March 3rd, 1807,
the eldest daughter of his uncle Joseph. Their children were:
Wentworth, who became a sea-captain and died at sea ; Michael,
Jane and one other daughter. Joseph died in New Brunswick,
where he had made his home.

John Grant Parker married Mary Potter.

Of the children of the half blood : Wentworth became a clerk
with the firm of W. A. & S. Black (my mother's father and uncle)
at Halifax, and died there of smallpox, in early life.

Maria married James Smith, son of James. The father was
a Scottish-born Loyalist refugee from Rhode Island, who, during
the American Revolutionary War, settled in Newport, Hants
County, and lived on what became the Bennett property, Poplar
Grove, until his death in 1852. Maria's husband, James, junior,
was born in 1793, and died in 1849, at Portland, Maine, where
they resided. Maria became the mother of eight children. Her
husband's brother, Woodbury Smith, entered the British Navy as
a purser's clerk, at Halifax, married in England, and after attain-

40 DANIEL McNEILL pakkek, m.d.

ing the rank of a captain in the Navy, died at Greenwich, England,
in 1853, leaving no issue.

Thomas Woodbury Parker died, unmarried, at the home of
Francis, my grandfather, in Walton.

Daniel Dixon Parker was born in 1813, and when a mere boy,
went to begin life for himself in Eastport, Maine. There he died,
December 6th, 1830, at the age of 17.

Sophia Parker died in infancy, January, 16th, 1816.

Collingwood Parker was lost at sea while supercargo of a ship
which was never heard of after sailing.

Augusta Parker married a Payson, of Weymouth, Nova Scotia.
The Misses Payson, who formerly lived in Halifax, were daughters
of her husband's brother.

Charles Parker went to New Orleans to reside.

Michael Parker once did business in Wolfville, N.S., and after-
wards moved to the United States. My father, in 1854, met him
at a railway station while travelling in the United States, but when
he told me this, late in his life, he could not remember the name of
the place. Michael then held some office in a railway company.

Of the children of William Parker, senior, other than John, —
my father's grand-uncles and grand-aunts — there is the following
record :

The second son, William Parker, junior, at the age of 21 years,
married, November 25th, 1793, Letitia Grant, daughter of Captain
Robert Grant, of Loyal Hill, a younger sister of his brother John's
wife, Sarah. They had the following children:

Mary Parker, born September 18th, 1794, who married James
Mitchener, October 15th, 1815, and had a son Abel, born August
25th, 1816. John Grant Parker, born January 29th, 1796, who
married Mary Ann Terhune. Sarah Parker, born November 20th,
1797, who married John Shaw. Elizabeth Parker, born October
1st, 1799; died March 27th, 1872. Thomas Parker, born June
25th, 1801. Stephen Parker, born December 18th, 1803, who
maried a Miss Ryan. Timothy Parker, born January 23rd, 1806,
died May 9th, 1882, Rachel Parker, born September 22nd, 1808 ;
died December 12th, 1815. William Parker, born August 28th,
1810. Letitia Parker, born January 23rd, 1813.

Letitia (Grant) Parker died at Petite, January 23rd, 1813,
in giving birth to her last child and namesake.

William Parker, junior, died at Petite, May 8th, 1857, aged
85 years.

The third son of William Parker, senior, Thomas, married at
Newport, January 31st, 1804, Anne Mumford. They had the
following children :

Mary Parker, born December 10th, 1804. George Parker,
born March 7th, 1807. William Parker, born November 22nd,

THE PARKER FAMILY 41

1808. Benjamin Parker, born December 25th, 1810. Thomas
Hardaker Parker, born February 2nd, 1813 ; died December 23rd,
1815. Phoebe Ann and Sarah Letitia Parker (twins), born May
10th, 1815. Francis Parker, born June 29th, 1818. Eunice
Jane Parker, born July 5th, 1820.

Mary, only daughter of William Parker, senior, married
Timothy Dimock, of Rawdon, December 29th, 1795, at the age of
19. They had issue as follows :

Shubael Dimock, born November 27th, 1796, who married
Hannah Baker (born January 6th, 1799). Thomas Dimock, born
August 2nd, 1798; died April 26th, 1805. William Dimock,
born August 28th, 1800, who married Elizabeth Parker, his cousin,
daughter of Francis Parker, July 24th, 1828. Hannah P. Dimock,
born January 18th, 1803, who married March 26th, 1827, James
Higgins. The only child of this marriage was Dr. Daniel Francis
Higgins, for many years Professor of Mathematics in Acadia
College. Her husband died July 8th, 1829. She afterwards
married William Whittier, December 2nd, 1834, and had another
son, James Whittier. Joseph Dimock, born October 4th, 1804,
who married Hannah Dimock, September 3rd, 1829. John
Dimock, born February 22nd, 1807, who married Sarah Dimock,
January 24th, 1833. Daniel Dimock, born September 16th, 1809 ;
died November 24th, 1813. Timothy Dimock, born March 25th,
1811; died December 22nd, 1815. Francis Knowlton Dimock,
born April 5th, 1813 ; died the day of his birth.

Timothy Dimock died at Rawdon, December 21st, 1838, aged
69 years. Mary (Parker) Dimock died at Rawdon, December
30th, 1863, aged^86.

The fourth son of William Parker, senior, Joseph, married
Anne McLalan (or McLennan) at Rawdon, December 26th, 1805.
Of this marriage there were the following children :

Jane Parker, born March 3rd, 1807. Alexander Parker, born
February 16th, 1809.

Anne (McLellan) Parker died at Rawdon, February 24th,
1809.

Joseph was married a second time, to Catherine Terhune, on
February 7th, 1810. The following were the children of this
marriage :

Ananias Parker, born December 26th, 1810. Hiram Parker,
born March 24th, 1826; died June 29th, 1898, at Windsor, N.S.
Catherine Parker, born January 16th, 1828.

The fifth son of William Parker, senior, Francis, married
Sarah Bond, at Rawdon, February 12th, 1805. They had the
following children :

Elizabeth Parker, born January 4th, 1806, who married Wil-
liam Dimock, her cousin, son of Timothy and Mary (Parker)

42 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

Dimock, July 24th, 1828. Phoebe Maria Parker, born February
29th, 1808, who married Charles S. Dimock, June 17th, 1834.
Sarah Ann Parker, born September 7th, 1810, who married John
Doyle. William John Parker, born November 11th, 1812, who
married Harriet Nowel Masters, December 2nd, 1834.

Sarah (Bond) Parker died, February 1st, 1815. Francis was
married again to Anne Lomer, October 5th, 1820.

Having thus completed the genealogical line of William Parker,
senior, the immigrant brother through whom my father's descent
is derived (except as contained in my monograph on Daniel
McNeill and his descendants), I extend the record to the other
immigrant brothers, Francis and Joseph, my father's great-grand-
uncles, and their families. By so doing I hope to contribute to
the perpetuation of all the information which the brief chronicle
of my father's great-grandfather affords ; but little remains to be
told.

The eldest of the three immigrant brothers, Francis, resided
always at Shubenacadie, where he had first settled, and he died
there, May 3rd, 1800, at the age of 62. He was married before he
left England, but the maiden name of his wife, Mary, has not been
recorded. She was born in Yorkshire in 1737, and died at Shuben-
acadie on October 17th, 1809. They had a son, Francis R., born
in Shubenacadie, who resided there and attained great age — I
think, 96 years. He was the leading man in that locality for many
years, a Justice of the Peace, widely known and respected as a man
of high character and excellent qualities of mind and heart. About
the year 1892 I had occasion to examine him as a witness in a law
suit concerning the old Shubenacadie canal, before a Referee of
the Exchequer Court of Canada. The meeting for this purpose
took place at his house. Unfortunately I took no notes of a con-
versation we had on family history. He was about twenty years
old when his uncle, my father's great-grandfather, died, and knew
and remembered him well. Though totally blind when I met him,
he was robust in body, still of a fine physique, a burly, florid, dis-
tinguished-looking old gentleman, who seemed rather of the eigh-
teenth than the nineteenth century, and would have made a fine
model for my idea of a typical old-time Yorkshire farmer. I could
not resist the notion that in him there was reproduced before my
eyes a sort of composite portrait of my father's English fore-
fathers. To meet with him was like stepping back a century. His
now sightless eyes had seen my ancestors of four generations past.
In general appearance he resembled Francis, my grandfather.
Like him, he ^vas always " Squire Parker " to everyone. His
mental faculties were alert and keen, so that he made an excellent
witness in the law suit, as to things he had seen and known thirty
to forty years before. To attest the family traditions, not only of

THE PARKER FAMILY 43

longevity, but of obedience to a certain injunction laid upon the
patriarchs, he had then a rather young wife and a son of about
twelve or fourteen years of age. This wife was of the Etter family,
and a remote collateral relative of my mother, on the maternal
side of the Black family.

Of the remaining immigrant brother, Joseph Parker, and his
family, who were settled in Newport, the most meagre information
has come down to us. Like his brothers, he married in England
before coming to this Province. His wife's maiden name is not
known, but she was of Yorkshire birth, and her given name was
Elizabeth. She died at Newport, where Joseph, as already stated,
died on the 9th of September, 1815. Whether they left children or
not the records at present available do not disclose.

For further information of the Parker family, in the direct
line of my father, and through the two Parker-McNeill marriages,
reference may be had to the Daniel McNeill monograph of the year
1906.

To the record of William Parker, senior, as continued by his
daughter, I have added, in the lines collateral to my father's
descent, only a few names of descendants, from information which
I chanced to have. To bring the record down to date, in all its
branches, would be a most voluminous undertaking.

chapter ii.
the McNeill family.

" 'Tis opportune to look back upon old times, and contemplate our
forefathers."

— Sir Thomas Browne.

The Clan MacNeil was divided into two septs, those of Gigha,
and others of Barra, two islands off the coast of Argyle, says the
author of " The Scottish Clans and their Tartans " ; and he adds :
" The name of MacNeil first appears in a charter by Robert I. of
lands in Wigton to John, son of Gilbert MacNeil ; but the oldest
charter to the name for the Isle of Barra — confirmatory of one
from Alexander, Lord of the Isles — is dated 1427, and is granted
to Gilleonon, son of Roderick, son of Murchard, the son of Neil.
The Gigha branch were, so far back as 1472, keepers of the Castle
of Swen, in North Knapdale, under the Lords of the Isles." This
branch, or sept, had also proprietary rights of ancient date in Kin-
tyre (Cantyre), as evidenced by a sale by Neil MacNeil to James
MacNeil, the exact date of which is buried in obscurity. There
were also MacNeils in the Isle of Colonsay, and many of the name
occupied the western portion of the mainland of Argyle. In the
course of time, and through changes in locality, the name has
acquired several variations of spelling, but the families who came
to North Carolina have spelt it, almost uniformly, " McNeill."

The war-cry of the clan is " Buaidh no Bas " — " Victory or
Death." The clan pipe march is " Spaidsearachd Mhic Neill " —
" MacNeill's March." The clan badge is " Machall Monaidh."
— Dryas.

When, in the summer of 1745, Prince Charles Edward landed,
first on the Island of Eriskay, between the islands of Barra and
South Uist, and a little later at Borodale on the mainland, he was
in the immediate neighborhood of the MacNeills, and many of the
clan answered the summons to his standard. The autumn of the
following year, which saw the Stuart Prince hunted through the
western isles, brought to his Highland followers dire disaster.
After the cause was forever lost upon Culloden Muir, the MacNeills
were among the victims of the atrocities suffered by the clansmen
at the hand of that royal butcher, the Duke of Cumberland.
Wearied, at length, of hangings, slaughters, and the less merciful
barbarities perpetrated upon the prisoners taken at Culloden and

the McNeill family 45

long afterwards in Argyle and the adjacent islands, this odious
brother of George the Second gave to many remaining in his power
the privilege of taking the oath of allegiance to the Brunswick
King and then removing with their families to the American plan-
tations, as an alternative to expiating their rebellion by death.
Several families of MacNeills availed themselves of this " saving
grace." For some reason these were permitted to linger on at
home, under surveillance, suffering the penalties of proscription,
extortionate exactions and of persecution, until the year 1748; in
which year, but after their departure, the Act was passed for dis-
arming the Highlanders, abolishing the national dress, and impos-
ing other punitive disabilities upon this proud and sensitive people.

There had been some few Scottish settlers on the Cape Fear
in North Carolina as early as 1729. " Black " Neill McNeill, the
earliest known progenitor of our branch of the McNeills, came first
to America, from Argyle, in the year 1742, or 1743. He seems to
have been then well advanced in life, probably about 70 years old.
In 1747 he explored the Cape Fear country with a view to founding
a colony of his distressed clansmen and other fellow-sufferers.
Whether he had revisited Scotland in time to participate in the
Forty-Five is uncertain, but tradition says that his son Lauchlin
and his grandson Archibald fought at Culloden. At all events,
after his second voyage to America and his tour of exploration in
North Carolina in 1747, he returned once more to Argyle and the
next year brought out his family and a colony of Highlanders,
variously estimated at from three hundred to six hundred souls.
All the men of fighting age among them had been out in the Stuart
rising, and they brought their arms among their treasured pos-
sessions. The claymore was to drink blood in another royal cause,
which was to be lost upon another continent.

With them came Flora, or, as she wrote her name, " Florey,"
McDonald, and her future husband, a McDonald. When through
her compassionate courage and sagacity Prince Charles Edward
was enabled to escape from South Uist to Skye, thence to the Isle
of Easay, back to Skye, and finally to the mainland, from which
he sailed to France, tradition says that some of these McNeills,
knowing well the intricacies of the islands and their approaches,
were rendering assistance to the fugitives. That she chose to cast
in her lot with Black Neill's colonizing party, and, after first sett-
ling at Cross Creek (Fayetteville), removed to Little River to
reside in the immediate neighborhood of the Bahn McNeills, are
circumstances which lend color to the tradition, well established in
the Cape Fear region, that our immigrant ancestors were among
the friends of Flora McDonald, a name ever to be numbered in the
illustrious roll of heroic women.

Black Neill placed his colony at Cross Creek, now within the

46 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

town of Fayetteville, at the head of navigation (except for small
boats) on the Cape Fear River, 120 miles by water above Wilming-
ton. This settlement they called " Campbellton," in honor of
Farquhard Campbell, who, from the Highland point of view, was
the principal personage among them. The town became " Fayette-
ville " after the Revolutionary War, a tribute at once to the popu-
larity of La Fayette and to the detestation of the Loyalist or
" Tory " Highlanders.

It was from this point that my father, in 1861, and I, in 1898,
began our tours of investigation and our visits to the North Caro-
lina kinsfolk.

From there, as a centre, the Scottish settlements spread, until,
in a few years, they extended down to the sea, along the river, far
up the Cape Fear and Deep Rivers and thence back to the Pedee.
The Deep River flows into the Cape Fear about 29 miles above
Lillington. All this region, known as " the Cape Fear," is still
very largely inhabited by the descendants of these original settlers,
who preserve a remarkable survival of the clan spirit and racial
pride ; which has been fostered by intermarriage, by the retention
of immense tracts of land in families, and, to a certain extent, by
slavery — the two latter circumstances tending to the exclusion of
other settlers.

With Black Neill McNeill came his son Lauchlin and Mar-
garet, his wife, whose maiden name was Johnstone; also Neill's
grandson, Archibald McNeill, son of Lauchlin. Other children
of Lauchlin were of the party, but their names do not enter into
the record. Hector, a son of Lauchlin, who will hereafter appear,
made his peace with the British government by entering the army,
and did not appear in North Carolina until after 1763.

Soon after the arrival of the colonizing party in 1748, Archi-
bald married Jennet (Janet) Smith. Her father, John Smith,
a lowland Scotsman of that ilk, had emigrated to the Cape Fear
country with the earlier Scottish settlers in 1729. His wife, Mar-
garet, whose maiden name was Gilchrist, had died on shipboard
during their voyage. They had two children born in Scotland,
Malcolm Smith and Jennet. Archibald McNeill and Jennet were
both born about the year 1720. She died in 1791, and he on June
26th, 1801.

Archibald and Jennet (Smith) McNeill were my father's
great-grandparents; Lauchlin and Margaret (Johnstone) McNeill
were his great-great-grandparents, and Black Neill McNeill, whose
wife's name has not been transmitted to her descendants, was his
great-great-great-grandfather; while, on the maternal side, my
father's great-great-grandparents were John and Margaret (Gil-
christ) Smith. From my children to Black Neill McNeill there
are (inclusively) eight generations.

THE McNEILL FAMILY 47

Black Neill must have been born in the reign of Charles the
Second. He was a Covenanter, and the son of a Covenanter.
His memory would go back to the insurrection of 1679, the bloody
work of Claverhouse, and the fierce fighting at Drumclog and
Bothwell Brig, where his father may have borne his part. He
himself was then probably a lad of six.

That his family should support the Stuart cause in 1745 is not
strange to a student of the times and Highland character. The
McNeills of the Isles remained Catholic. Those on the mainland
of Argyle, though the Campbell influence had brought them into
the Covenant, could not be parted from their clan in a war declared
for Scottish kingship.

I have alluded to Daniel McNeill Parker's Quaker ancestry,
on his father's side, with its spiritual inheritance. May we not
discover in this heritage of the Covenanter blood, through the
maternal line, some further explanation of those strong spiritual
characteristics which distinguished him ? The Quaker and Cov-
enanter blend might well in after years produce, now and then,
a composite type of character like my father's.

In accordance with the blunt and quaintly significant fashion
of the Scots to designate individuals by physical or temperamental
peculiarities, in order to distinguish them from others of their
name, Jennet McNeill became known as Jennet " Bahn " (fair-
complexioned and light-haired), and Archibald, I regret to say,
acquired the appellation of " Scorblin " (or " Scrubblin "), mean-
ing no good, or worthless. To this day in North Carolina, even
in family Bibles and other records which I have examined, they
remain " Jenny Bahn " and " Archie Scrubblin " ; and to add
the surname would be deemed redundant. But it has been
explained to me that Archibald's designation is not to be taken too
literally, and may mean merely that he was a man of little force
of character and unsuccessful as a planter. And, again, he
appears to have suffered by comparison with his wife, who seems
to have been a woman of strong intellect, deep sagacity of the
practical sort, and of untiring energy — a veritable queen bee in
the community. The shortcomings of Archie were amply
redressed by his spouse, and though we find other " Scrubblins " in
the family tree, they prove to be sons-in-law of the clan and not his
descendants.

The descendants of Archibald and Jennet have always been
known as the Bahn McNeills, by which prefix they are still dis-
tinguished in the " Old North State " from the McNeills descended
from the same ancestor, Black Neill, through other children of
Lauchlin, and also distinguished from other McNeills not of Black
Neill's stock. To be a Bahn NcNeill, or to be allied to one by
marriage or descent has yet a certain social and even political

48 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

significance of a favorable kind, at least in the Counties of Cumber-
land and Harnett.

Archibald and Jennet had the following children:

Hector, known as " One-Eyed " Hector, to distinguish him
from his uncle and other kinsmen of that name. He married
Susanna Barksdale and had nine children.

Archibald, who was killed in childhood by falling from a tree.

Malcolm, who married Jennet McAllister and had seven
children.

Lauchlin, who died unmarried, November 11th, 1795.

Neill, who married Grissella Stewart and had four children
who left descendants, and several others who died in infancy.

Colonel Archibald S. McNeill, who was my father's host at
McNeill's Ferry (formerly Sproul's Ferry) in 1861, was a son
of Neill. Colonel " Archie " was born in 1804 and died in 1876.

Daniel, born in 1752, died May 5th, 1818. He was my
father's grandfather, and is still distinguished in the family as
" Nova Scotia Dan'l."

John, known as " Cunning John," for reasons which will
appear later. He married Agnes Shaw, and had one son.

Margaret ("Peggy"), who married John McNeill, " Scrub-
blin," and had nine children.

Mary (or Maron) who died at the age of 15.

The order of birth of these grand-uncles and grand-aunts of
my father is not known, but John is thought to have been the
youngest son.

The various families of the McNeills early became prominent
and influential in the Counties of Bladen, Cumberland, Moore,
Chatham and Randolph. Archibald and Jennet resided in various
places, but their principal homestead and the one upon which they
were living during the Revolutionary War was the plantation at
Anderson's Creek, Lower Little River, in Cumberland County.
This county was afterwards divided into two, and the northern
part of it, comprising the Little River settlement, became Harnett
County. Jennet seems to have been a remarkable woman, with
a versatility of talent which scorned the ordinary limitations of
her sex. One shrinks from speculating on what she might have
been if she had been projected out of the pioneer period forward
into a civilization which has evolved the has bleu and the suf-
fragette. As to her personality, she was small in stature, resem-
bling in that respect her granddaughter, Mary Janet, my father's
mother ; of her complexion and hair I have already spoken. The
following traditionary account of her, illustrative of her business
capacity, shrewdness and canny ways, I received from some of her
descendants amid the scenes of her activities. She acquired large
herds of cattle, and had cattle-pens and grazing grounds in many

the McNeill family 49

widely scattered localities. Accompanied by a band of trusty
slaves, she would roam over several counties, visiting and herding
her cattle, exploring for fresh pasturing lands, driving her beasts
sometimes as far as Campbellton to market, and camping at night,
all the time, wherever night might overtake her. While she was
bearing rule, dictating the policy of the entire family connection,
transacting business, such as procuring grants of land, squatting
on other Crown lands through her servants and tenants, entering
upon and surveying after her own fashion large tracts of valuable
timber lands, and directing the management of several extensive
plantations — all in addition to the cattle business, Archie, " Scrub-
blin," who seems to have been a steady, plodding, hard-working
sort of man, remained at home and took care of the family, while
directing affairs generally at the homestead plantation. Jenny
Bahn had an original system of surveying the lands which she
acquired for her husband, whether by Crown grant, purchase, or
by the simpler process of mere entry and possession. She would
guess at the points of the compass and run lines through the
forest by sending in slaves on various imaginary courses, with
instructions to walk on and blaze the trees until she rang a bell.
Following behind, by a code of signals with her bell she controlled
the movements of the negroes, and would enclose, " in black and
white," as it were, by this idyllic method of surveying, tracts which
would aggregate a principality. By virtue of such mystic rites
of engineering she would sometimes assert claims to portions of
the earth with a complacency that was not altogether shared by
her neighbors. Nor have the consequences of her achievements
" along these lines " been appreciated by some of her successors in
title ; though it must be said that lawyers have risen up and called
her blessed. It is to be feared that, as a " woman of affairs," her
ethical standards were not superior to our present-day code, sum-
marized in the phrase, " Business is business." Yet despite the
speculative inquiry which I have suggested on a preceding page,
tradition says that, in her family life, she was altogether feminine,
a model wife and mother, and not at all what one would call a
mannish woman or she-man. Her sharpness in making bargains
is illustrated in the incident of her purchase of McNeill's Ferry
and the 440 acres to which the ferry was appurtenant, from the
original grantee of the land and ferry franchise, one Sproul, or
Sproal. The owner, an immigrant, discouraged in mind and sick
in body, said to her one day when she " cried in " upon him during
one of her cattle-driving expeditions, that he had half a mind to
sell out and go home to Scotland. With feigned indifference she
listened to the recital of his troubles and failure in the new life,
and laying due stress upon the utter lack of purchasers for such
an unpromising property, and her own condition of being " land
4

50 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

poor," she gradually led her poor fellow-countryman, homesick
for Scotland and fearful of death in the wilderness alone, into
making an improvident bargain with her. Nor did she resume
her journey until she was able to carry with her a written agree-
ment for the sale at a small figure of what was really a possession
of great value. The Ferry property and franchise remained in
the family until about the year 1905, and until the era of railway
extension which came to that section of country some twenty years
after the War of Secession, the ferry franchise itself was always
very remunerative. It lies on what used to be the great North and
South highway of travel and commerce. Over the ferry passed
enormous quantities of cotton and tobacco, going north. It is an
historic spot. Washington's continental army of the South crossed
and recrossed it; and there Sherman, returning from the march
through Georgia, crossed the Cape Fear with his triumphant
forces. In the Revolutionary War it was the centre of stirring
incidents in the southern campaigns.

Some idea of Archibald's and Jennet's possessions in land may
be gathered from his will. I shall give this document in its place.
But they seem to have acquired quantities of land for speculative
purposes, which was profitably sold to later settlers, in their life-
time. Their sons, too, were rich in land ; or, rather, poor, because
they had so much of it. We can trace certain of these sons, the
grand-uncles of my father, in North Carolina histories and his-
torical sketches relating to the Revolutionary period. Anecdotes
of them still pass current among their descendants and further
illustrate the men and their times. In such reminiscences their
exiled Tory brother, Daniel, finds a place.

In my monograph on Daniel McNeill and his descendants,
research beyond the time of his coming to Nova Scotia was not
called for. Since that paper was written, investigation has
revealed something of his earlier career ; and I have found mate-
rials to supplement this in some notes concerning him, made from
traditionary sources when I was among the North Carolina kins-
folk. In the following account of the McNeills in the Revolu-
tionary War, history and tradition are combined, omitting such
of the latter as I consider to be against probability, or lacking in
corroboration by dates and contemporaneous circumstances. The
member of the family most frequently mentioned by Wheeler,
Caruthers, Foote, Moore, Fanning and other writers of North
Carolina history, is Hector McNeill (senior), who was a brother
of Archibald (Scrubblin) and an uncle of my great-grandfather,
Daniel. As I have already stated, the elder Hector had entered
the British service about the time his family emigrated. It
appears that he served in one of the Highland regiments added
to the army through the sagacity of Pitt at the commencement of

the McNeill family 51

the terrible contest known as the Seven Years' War, to which regi-
ments, twenty years later, when Earl of Chatham, in one of those
remarkable speeches in the House of Lords urging conciliation
towards America, the great statesman thus alluded : " I remember,
after an unnatural rebellion had been extinguished in the northern
parts of this island, that I employed these very rebels in the
service and defence of their country. They were reclaimed by
this means ; they fought our battles ; they cheerfully bled in
defence of those liberties which they attempted to overthrow but a
few years before."

The name of Hector's regiment and the particulars of his
European military career have not been recorded. By valor and
distinguished services in action he had obtained an ensign's com-
mission before the peace of 1763, and, sometime later, retiring
from the army as a half-pay captain, he sought out his family in
North Carolina and settled in Bladen County, where he had become
a colonel of militia before the Revolution.

When the long-smouldering embers of rebellion were flaming
into declared and open war, North Carolina was the first of all the
American provinces to declare by a Provincial Congress for abso-
lute independence of the mother country. Yet among the people
there was a strong dissenting minority, which was very largely
represented in the Cape Fear and other Scottish settlements, where
public sentiment was almost altogether Royalist. Any form of
government but the monarchical was scarcely conceivable to the
minds of these Highland folk, permeated by the still fresh mem-
ories and traditions of their Old- World descent, and by their nat-
ural habit of thought on matters of State, which postulated the
conditions of chieftainship and kingship. The seeds of repub-
licanism could not easily germinate in such soil. Again, before
their emigration the elders among them had taken the oath of
allegiance to the British Crown, represented in the person of
George II. ; and though taken in many cases under duress, this
oath, they believed and taught their sons and grandsons, was bind-
ing on themselves and on their posterity. The covenant idea of
the ancient Scottish Presbyterian cast of mind appears in this.
The benefit of their sworn allegiance, to their minds, descended
to the next ruler of the Hanoverian dynasty, George III., and the
burden of it descended to their children. This argument of the
oath proved unanswerable to any who might otherwise waver in
choosing sides, and unto the second and third generation it pre-
vailed. The general result was that the Stuart rebels of the Forty-
Five in Britain, with their descendants, fought for the House of
Hanover against the rebels in America.

Caruthers, the fierce North Carolina Whig partisan writer,
after denouncing these Scottish Tories for their course at this

52 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

time, reluctantly admits that they were the flower of the popula-
tion, and he pays the following significant tribute to them and
their fellow-countrymen overseas : " The Scotch people, taken as
a whole, have generally been regarded as feeling more solemnly
bound by their oath than any others, and I have been told by native
Scotchmen, who were pretty well acquainted with Scottish history,
that in the High Court of Edinboro', notwithstanding all the vigil-
ance and careful enquiry into the matter on the part of the court,
only four cases of perjury had been known in a hundred years."
Caruthers wrote in the years 1851 and 1852.

Goldwin Smith, in his " Political History of the United
States," says that these Highlanders of North Carolina were
among the better elements of population in the Province. Moore,
in his " History of North Carolina," says : " These Scotch people
were brave, industrious and frugal, and North Carolina has always
esteemed them as a part of her best population."

As early as 1775 began the bitter persecution by the " Regu-
lators " and other Whig, or rebel, partisans, against those who
were well affected towards the government. This could be effec-
tually met and checked only by reprisals in self-defence, even by
Tory sympathizers who desired simply the privilege of holding
their own opinions while remaining neutral in conduct. There
were many such, who, goaded by the fiendish excesses of the
" patriots," exacted a terrible toll of compensation and revenge.
The Loyalists became the victims of domiciliary visits by self-
constituted committees or bands of their Whig neighbors. They
were whipped, tarred and feathered, dragged through horse-ponds,
ridden on rails with the word " Tory " on their breasts, plundered,
shot from ambush, and openly murdered. Their young men were
drafted or impressed as soldiers in the continental army. The
Tories of the Cape Fear, as elsewhere, organized, as a matter of
course, and retaliated in kind as the one means of defending their
homes, their families and themselves. When the Highland blood
was up, and the Scots went into the business of " regulating " for
themselves, things happened, and happened quickly. They were
aided by the better class of the original Regulators, who had taken
the oath of allegiance after their organization had been shattered
for a time by the prompt measures of Martin, the last of the Pro-
vincial governors under the colonial regime. The most frightful
type of civil war ensued — an irresponsible, scattered guerilla war-
fare of divided communities, and even families, comparable to the
Italian vendetta or to the ancient clan feuds recorded in the history
of Scotland. Society was dissolved. Law was transmuted into
the primitive code of " an eye for an eye ; a tooth for a tooth."
When, late in the course of this inhuman war of factions, during
the discussion of a proposed cessation of hostilities, the rebel

the McNeill family 53

Colonel Balfour declares that there could be " no resting-place for
a Tory's foot on the earth," and the desperado Tory Colonel Fan-
ning shoots him on sight for saying so, we get, as in the lightning's
flash, a vivid illustration of the men and the spirit of these times.

Out of the resistance to the " Patriots' " persecutions grew and
was organized the Tory Army of North Carolina, composed of
such portions of the Provincial militia as remained loyal, various
volunteer corps, and irregular or guerilla forces such as the des-
perate band led by the notorious Colonel Fanning. This com-
posite Provincial force, which comprised one corps of Highlanders
armed only with the claymore and dirk, survivals of Culloden,
amounted in the whole to about two thousand men as early as Feb-
ruary, 1776. Flora McDonald rendered valuable services in their
organization at Campbellton, the place of rendezvous. Two Brit-
ish officers, of the 42nd Highland regiment, Donald McLeod and
Donald McDonald, had been sent into the Province to rouse and
enlist the Scots of the Cape Fear country ; and they undertook the
organization of the Tory army. Hector McNeill became asso-
ciated with McLeod in North Carolina's civil war some time before
the arrival from Charleston of the regular British troops under
Lord Cornwallis in the spring of 1780. Like McNeill, Donald
McLeod became a colonel of Loyal Militia.

Commanding the Loyal Militia of Bladen County, Colonel
Hector McNeill, during the earlier part of the war, was engaged
on detached service against the Whig volunteers or militia, between
Wilmington and Deep River. In many successful skirmishes and
minor engagements he proved himself a daring and resourceful
commander and won the devotion of his troops. In the course of
these operations he took a great many prisoners of war, whom he
sent or personally conducted to Major Craig, the Commandant of
the British base at Wilmington. The Colonel's nephew, Neill Mc-
Neill, of Little River, in Cumberland, brother of Daniel McNeill,
and a grand-uncle of my father, was a captain in this regiment of
his uncle.

Near Little River, in July, 1781, Colonel Hector, having then
with him only 300 men, was about to be attacked by the rebel
Colonel Wade with 660 men, encamped at McFall's Mills. The
redoubtable guerilla leader, Fanning, was in the forest not far
away, and had received information of the intended attack on
McNeill. In his narrative, Fanning writes : " I instantly des-
patched an express to know his situation, and offering assistance ;
in three hours I received for answer he would be glad to see me
and my party. I marched direct, and by daylight arrived there
with 155 men." More trustworthy authorities say that he brought
only his usual complement of about forty men, but they were all
well mounted and of the best fighting material.

54 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Readers of Farming's narrative must largely discount his
account of the fight which followed, and of all his performances
in the war. The purpose of his egotistical story, written in New
Brunswick after the war, was to support his application to the
British government for some reward for his services and com-
pensation for his losses. From his narrative one would gather
that he was the head and front of all the Loyalist military achieve-
ments in which he participated, and in others where it is well
established that he had no part whatever. He makes scant mention
of other commanders, except where it is necessary to find some
one upon whom the blame for his reverses might be cast. He was
a man of very bad character, notoriously untruthful, savage and
brutal, guilty of the most atrocious crimes in his mode of warfare.
Such was the estimation in which he was held after the peace,
that the State of North Carolina specially excepted him from its
Act of Oblivion, and the British government declined to enter-
tain his claims for reward and compensation. Yet the Scottish
leaders recognized and employed his marvellous sagacity, daring,
and a certain genius for generalship which possessed him; and
they often gave him the chief command in action, especially when,
as at McFall's Mills, his bush-ranging adventures had made him
well acquainted with the ground. The terror which the very
name of Fanning inspired in the rank and file of the Whigs was
something to conjure with, and often compensated for a dis-
parity of numbers in battle. Thus, Colonel Hector McNeill
gave to his unsavory ally the chief command in this " battle,"
as the local histories term it.

Not waiting for Wade to make the attack he had planned,
the Tories took the offensive in a spirited attack upon his posi-
tion on a hill. After an hour and a half of brisk fighting the
event was decided by a charge of McNeill's Highlanders, which
swept Wade's Whigs from the summit of the hill. The affair
then became a chase, which the victors gave over after a pur-
suit of seven miles. The Whigs lost about fifty men. The Tory
loss was trifling. They captured many prisoners, who were
sent to Wilmington, and 250 pack horses laden with plunder
from many Loyalist homes in the neighborhood which Wade had
sacked.

Colonel Hector fought a great many of such small engage-
ments, and he was never defeated.

At McFall's Mills he and Fanning separated. Afterwards
they co-operated at times, as occasion required, but Fanning, at
such times, commanded only his roving, free-booting corps, which
averaged forty or fifty men, all pretty much of his own stamp.
David L. Swain, when Governor of North Carolina in 1834,
delivered a series of lectures on the British invasion of that State,

the McNeill family 55

which were afterwards published in the University Magazine.
He says that " when Fanning and McNeill united for the pur-
pose of striking sudden and effective blows, at remote and effec-
tive points, they commanded alternately day by day." Caruthers,
in referring to this statement, and to Fanning, says : " but
according to the most reliable traditions I have heard, it was
not a general or frequent thing; for I am told that the Scotch
would not fight under him, nor be commanded by him. They
disliked his character, and all the better part of them abhorred
his atrocities. In those days, 'tis said, they would not fight under
any other than a Scotch commander; and on this occasion (the
capture of Governor Burke) they merely co-operated with him
for the purpose of accomplishing the object."

On the 17th of August, 1781, Hector McNeill, commanding
a brigade composed of his own regiment and those of Colonels
Ray and Slingsby, took the town of Campbellton (now Fayette-
ville), which was held by a Whig garrison under Colonel Emmet.
Slingsby was an Englishman who, after settling in Bladen County,
had married Mrs. McAllister, a widowed sister of Hector, named
Isabella. At midnight, between the 16th and 17th, McNeill
contrived to get into Emmet's hands a delusive message that
Fanning with 180 men had crossed the river, late in the evening,
below the town and had encamped for the night at Lower Camp-
bellton. Ignorant of the proximity of a real enemy in the
opposite direction, for the Tories had arrived with great rapidity,
by forced inarches, Colonel Emmet fell into the trap. So eager
was he to destroy or capture the devastating Fanning, whom he
supposed to be upon one of his dreaded raids down the river,
that he at once inarched out of the town to surprise Fanning's
camp in a night attack, with a large part of the garrison. Of
course he failed to find Fanning, who was not in the expedition
at all ; and on returning from his " fool's errand " in the morning,
he found the town occupied by the Tory force, which had beaten
his reduced garrison. After some resistance he surrendered to
McNeill, along with Captain Winslow and many other leading
Whig officers. The garrison was despatched, prisoners of war, to
Wilmington. Colonel Emmet's report to the Whig Governor of
the Province, Thomas Burke, is found in Swain's contributions
to the University Magazine.

Early in September following this exploit, there was a
general muster of the Loyalist forces near Crane's Creek, in the
lower side of Moore County, on the Cape Fear, when a plan was
formed for an attack on Hillsborough in the northern County
of Orange, where the rebel governor, Burke, had established his
seat of government, far enough, as he thought, from the region
of conflict to be safe as to his own skin and dignities. He held

56 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

the rank of general, and was protected by a garrison, with artillery.
Referring to this Loyalist muster of troops, Caruthers says:
" Colonel McNeill was there, and had the command of the whole.
It belonged to him, according to military usage, as the senior
officer; but it would have been conceded to him out of respect
as the oldest man, for he was now advanced in life, and had the
full confidence of all who knew him. Colonel Duncan Ray,
young, talented and enterprising, was also present; and Colonel

McDougall Much the largest body of Tories

was now assembled that appeared in arms at any one time after
independence was declared." The strength of this assemblage is
not recorded, but it has been estimated at three thousand. On the
march to Hillsborough, which was conducted with marvellous
rapidity, Fanning joined near Deep River, with what he himself
calls " 950 men of my own regiment." His figures are ques-
tioned by all other writers on the events of these times, and it
seems clear that he never had a " regiment." His account of
this expedition, and of the battle at Cane Creek which followed,
is cunningly contrived in such an equivocal manner that the casual
reader would infer that he was in command of the entire forces ;
and, of course, he appropriates to his own use the whole credit
of these achievements as valuable material for his impudent and
preposterous appeal to the British government, which has already
been referred to. All other writers, and the traditions which I
have found well established throughout the Cape Fear region in
my personal investigations there, are in accord with Caruthers
as to the facts of these events, and the following quotations relat-
ing to them and to Colonel Hector McNeill are from this author.

Early in the march to Hillsborough there was a smart skirm-
ish at Kirk's farm between the advanced guard and a strong party
of the enemy, who were unaware of this Tory movement. About
one-third of the Whigs were killed, and the rest dispersed; but
McNeill lost some important officers. An account of this fight
is preserved in historical memoranda left by one McBride, a rebel
partisan who was present.

" The capture of the governor was one of the most remark-
able feats of the Tories during the war, and one of the most
memorable events in North Carolina."

Orange County, of which Hillsborough was the county town,
was one of the strongest Whig neighborhoods. A regiment of
continental regulars, under Colonel Robert Mebane, and a large
embodiment of rebel militia lay encamped not far off, all com-
manded by General John Butler. There was no suspicion that
a single Tory existed within a hundred miles of the town. It was
therefore a complete surprise for the governor and his garrison
when, a little before daybreak on September 12th, the Loyalists

the McNeill family 57

stealthily entered Hillsborough in three divisions by separate
roads and took possession of the principal streets, with the public
buildings, including the quarters of the governor and his staff.
They received the fire of sentries and the main guard, and a
desultory fire of musketry from various houses was maintained
for some time. But there was not time to get the garrison regularly
under arms before their quarters were surrounded. The rebels
had fifteen killed, twenty wounded, and some hundreds of prisoners
were taken. A multitude of ordinary prisoners was not desired.
There was better game in hand; so, many of the Whig troops
were allowed to take to the woods. The Loyalists took what pieces
of cannon there were, and abundant military stores. The town
was looted. Among the prisoners taken were the governor, all
the members of his Council, several colonels, captains and sub-
alterns of the continental army (regulars), and seventy-one con-
tinental soldiers who had occupied a church for defence. Thirty
Loyalists and British soldiers were released from the gaol, one
of whom was to have been hanged that day. The invaders' Joss
was one man wounded.

" But to remain long there was neither policy nor interest."
An encounter with Butler and Mebane on the long march to
Wilmington, burdened with the care of so many prisoners and a
heavy baggage train of plunder, was to be avoided, if possible.
So, in the afternoon of the same day the victors set out upon their
return. However, fugitives from Hillsborough had quickly carried
the news to General Butler's camp, and he instantly took measures
to intercept the returning Tory force and to bring it to action in
some favorable position. With celerity and good judgment he
chose his ground at a point on Cane Creek commanding the only
road in that rugged and swampy locality by which his enemy
could pass southward. Here he was able to conceal his troops
behind elevated ground and to set an ambuscade in advance of his
main position. He was re-inforced by Colonel Alexander Mebane,
an escaped prisoner from Hillsborough who had returned to his
home, spread the alarm among the Whigs of Orange, and collected
a considerable volunteer force of riflemen with which he joined
Butler.

Authorities and traditions alike are at variance as to the
numbers engaged at the Battle of Cane Creek, and speculation is
useless.

McNeill commanded the advance guard of his force. He was
too experienced and wary a leader to fall into the ambuscade pre-
pared for him. Detecting it, he fell back across the creek for
the night and prepared to attack next morning.

That night the old Colonel's mind was possessed by " a pre-
sentiment, or what he regarded as a presentiment of his death

58 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

Officers of high standing in their profession,

and of undoubted courage, have often had, on the eve of a battle,
such a presentiment or impression of their approaching fate, as
to become depressed in spirits and comparatively inactive. Several
such instances occurred on both sides, during the revolutionary
war, and with men who could not be charged with idle fears or
superstitious notions. Col. McNeill, on this occasion felt con-
strained to disclose the state of his mind to some of his friends,
who tried to laugh or reason him out of his sombre mood, but in
vain. The brave old Hector, who had witnessed more appalling
scenes than the one now before him and had stood firm when a
thousand deathful balls were flying around him, quailed when
summoned, and so distinctly, as he supposed, to appear in the
presence of his Maker, that there was no possibility of escape.
He was not a man, however, who would bear the charge of coward-
ice, nor would he shrink from what he considered his duty on
such an occasion .... In the morning, old Hector, like
Ahab, King of Israel, when going up to battle at Ramoth Gilead,
laid aside his regimentals and appeared at the head of his men
in disguise, clothed in a hunting shirt and other parts of dress
corresponding, very much like a common soldier; but his time
was come and his destiny could not be changed."

As the Tories were crossing the Creek and deploying on a strip
of low ground beyond, the Whigs, who during the night had
advanced their whole strength to the crest of the opposing slope,
where they were well covered among forest trees, delivered a
tremendous volley with withering effect upon McNeill's formation
of his advance guard for the attack. Seeing, at a glance, that
if they continued to advance in a frontal attack, it would involve
an unwarranted sacrifice of life, Colonel McNeill ordered a retreat
for the purpose of carrying out a flanking movement which he
had planned as an alternative mode of attack if he should discover
the enemy too strongly concentrated in his immediate front.
The troops were falling back in good order, accordingly, when
Colonel McDougall, commanding a Scottish regiment, a violent,
hot-headed fighter, but with no more notion of tactics than a
maddened bull, rode up to McNeill, cursing his commanding
officer and taunting him with cowardice for retreating. Had he
been in a normal state of mind, the latter would have sent
McDougall to the rear, a prisoner ; but " the presentiment " had
upset his natural balance for the time. Stung by the taunt and
scorning to make any explanation, sacrificing his better judgment
to the vehement but ignorant zeal of his insubordinate inferior
officer, the gallant and infuriated McNeill halted and reformed
his men for a second advance. Of course the result was the same
as in the first ; but this time the presentiment (was it the " second

the McNeill family 59

sight" of the Highlands?) was fulfilled. Leading a charge to
certain death, Colonel MeNeill fell at the first volley, with three
balls through his body and five through his horse. " When he
fell someone thoughtlessly cried out : ' The Colonel is dead.' ' It's a
lie !' exclaimed McDougall, in a bold, strong voice, ' Hurrah,
my boys, we'll gain the day yet ! ' His death was very prudently
concealed, for many of the Scotch declared afterwards that had it
been known at the time, they would not have fired another gun,
but would have sought safety in any way they could."

The retreat was not orderly this time. In hasty council the
officers chose the rash but brave McDougall to take the command,
and the proposed flanking movement of McNeill was forced upon
him. The invincible Fanning was the better man to succeed
McNeill, but the Scots refused to move if he led. Yet, though
" regarded merely as a co-adjutor, responsible only to himself and
having the command of none except his own men," he it was who
retrieved the fortune of the day amid all this disaster and con-
fusion among the Tories. Rallying his own men and such others
as would follow him, he cut loose from the blundering McDougall,
outflanked the Whigs, and, taking them in the rear, wrought
such havoc that, as a Whig narrator naively puts it, " General
Butler ordered a retreat and commenced it himself." The loss
on both sides was heavy. The Tories got off to Wilmington with
their Hillsborough prisoners, Governor and all. The captured
cannon were sunk in a mill-pond before the engagement. Not
long afterwards, a Tory soldier composed a inarching song of
doggerel rhymes commemorative of the Hillsborough and Cane
Creek successes, — from which effusion the following lines are
culled :

"... We took all their cannon and colors in town,
And formed our brave boys and marched out of town
But the rebels waylaid us and gave us a broadside,
That caused our brave colonel to lie dead on his side;
The flower of our company was wounded full sore,
'Twas Captain McNeill and two or three more."

The Colonel here referred to is old Colonel Hector, and the
Captain is Daniel McNeill's brother Neill. The song-writer
seems to have been a member of Neill's company.

In the original edition of Fanning's narrative, the American
editor has a note on Colonel Hector which indicates his reputation
among his rebel neighbors for military experience and capacity,
at the outbreak of hostilities. This editor says : " In the first
military elections after the Royal Government was at an end, he
received a commission from the Whigs. But in 1776 he appeared
in arms against them, and was taken prisoner and confined in jail.
Subsequently he held the rank of colonel on the side of the

60 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

Crown He is represented to have been a

man of good moral character, and as brave as a lion. He fell at
the head of his command a day or two after the capture of Hills-
borough, at the battle of Cane Creek, pierced by five or six balls."
The elections here referred to were held subsequent to July 4th>
1776. The commission was tendered but refused. Hence the
illegal imprisonment, of which I find no other account. An earlier
Whig writer, in describing his death, terms him " the veteran
soldier and brave officer Col. Hector McNeill."

Leaving this most conspicuous military member of the family
in his soldier's grave beneath the towering pines which fringe
Cane Creek, his nephew, the successor in the command of his
regiment, next claims attention.

The clansmen had had enough of Colonel McDougall at Cane
Creek, and they would not tolerate him as leader any longer.
Before resuming their march to Wilmington, the army (as it was
called) chose Hector McNeill, a brother of Captain Neill McNeill,
and of Captain Daniel McNeill, to succeed to the command of the
whole force for the remainder of the campaign. No doubt the
name " Hector " had a sentimental influence upon this choice.
His uncle's regiment at the same time elected him to fill the
vacant colonelcy. He had been a captain in this expedition, but
whether in old Hector's regiment or another, does not appear
by any record. Though lacking the experience of his veteran
uncle, for whom he was named, he made a good officer and a
fearless leader.

The younger Hector, according to the Scottish methods of
nomenclature, was distinguished from all others of the name as
" One-eyed Hector." After delivering his important prisoners
to Major Craig, commanding at Wilmington, who shipped them off
to Charleston, South Carolina, the young colonel operated chiefly
in the region between the Cape Fear and Pedee Rivers; and
when too hard pressed by superior numbers, as he often was, found
refuge in the Raft Swamp, and occasionally by passing into South
Carolina. In these enforced evasive movements and in appearing
unexpectedly at the right time and at well chosen places to
deliver swift and effective blows to the enemy, he displayed quali-
ties of generalship of no mean order.

There is no historical record to show that the regiment and
the larger forces in which the two Hectors and Neill McNeill
served co-operated directly with the regular troops of Lord Corn-
wallis in the North Carolina campaigns which he conducted
between the 12th of May, 1780, and the month of April, 1781, in
which month Cornwallis set out from Wilmington upon his march
to Virginia, where his career terminated in the surrender at

the McNeill family 6i

Yorktown on the 19th of October following. These local forces
seem to have been occupied during these campaigns, as before
and afterwards, with their own Whig and Tory warfare, of which
the incidents already related are typical. But there is a strong
probability that they were among the numerous Loyalist auxiliaries
who did unite with the British troops in important engagements,
at Bamsour's Mills, Camden, King's Mountain, Cowpens and
Guildford Court House.

It is not difficult to account for the lamentable lack of any
information, save tradition, as to this. Well nigh all who have
written upon the revolutionary events in North Carolina have
merely served up for the " patriotic " palate of their fellows
certain " fearfully and wonderfully " constructed glorifications of
the Whig " patriots," biographical-apocryphal sketches, in that
familiar style so dear to the United States reader in the earlier
years of the republic. Others, though more sane in their method
of writing, had not enough of the historical sense to preserve for
future historical material anything more than the most meagre
statement concerning the achievements on the Loyalist side; and
these accounts are spoiled by such silly, childish bias, and such
palpable distortion of facts, as not only to discount their value,
but to be ludicrous to any intelligent reader, however anti-British
in sentiment he might be. The true history of the civil war of
this period, in the two Carolinas and Georgia, would make a
volume of thrilling interest. But the Loyalists of these Provinces,
proscribed, plundered, and banished when the cause was lost,
have had no historian, and, in the nature of things, they cannot
find one now. The material for such a work was effaced with
themselves by unforgiving neighbors and former familiars, who
hated as never man hated. There was to be no more resting
place on the face of the earth for historical truth than there was
to be for " a Tory's foot." Justice and Truth alike were abolished,
on the principle of the rebel doctrinal dictum of Colonel Balfour.
But before returning from this digression to One-eyed Hector's
brief story, it is but fair to say that the Scottish folk of the
Cape Fear to-day are very proud of their Tory forbears, and cling
fondly to all the traditional accounts of these patriots of " the
other side."

After Lord Cornwallis had set out for Virginia, and when
there were no British regular troops left in North Carolina except
four or five hundred in garrison at Wilmington, the Whig local
forces, aided by several regiments of continentals, were attaining
the ascendancy. Cornwallis had, at least, been fought to a stand-
still, and large numbers of Loyalists, already able to foresee the
end, began to come to terms with their Whig neighbors in order
to save their lives and their property. Many of the Scottish

62 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

Tories were getting " skeery " about the consequences of being
found in arms against the rapidly growing majority now confident
of success and loud in declaring, through their State government,
the policy of trials for high treason and confiscations of property,
which was afterwards carried out. A story is told which will
illustrate the difficulty which Colonel Hector McNeill had in hold-
ing his men together at this juncture. He had paraded a body
of men, one day in October, 1781, in a clearing on the edge of a
swamp, and was drilling them. Just then his brother Neill,
commanding a company under him, rode in and told him that
the Whigs had received intelligence of the surrender of Lord
Cornwallis on the 19th, " and," said Neill, " it's all over now."
This message was overheard in the ranks. Hector rode off a short
distance with Neill to discuss the eventful news. When he
turned to ride back and resume drill, his squads had vanished,
taken to the swamps, and he was alone with his brother. Tableau !
Hector was a profane man under quite ordinary circumstances,
but his comments on his situation are left to the imagination.
However, with the greater part of his force, he continued a
guerilla warfare for some time afterwards, with varying success.
Such men as he could not believe that the British would give
up the struggle with the surrender of the army of Cornwallis.
" One-eyed " Hector was noted for his herculean frame and
strength. He had a widespread reputation as a champion wrestler
and fighter in his earlier years, and he fought many a hard battle
in what would now be called the amateur ring, to maintain his
supremacy over men from many counties, who would travel far
to meet him in attempts to strip him of his laurels. This sort
of thing had won for him, when he was a young man, the dis-
tinctive designation of " Hector Bully," by which he was always
known until, in consequence of losing an eye in one of these
encounters, Scottish custom dropped the more invidious suffix to
his name and established him as the Polyphemus of the Cape Fear.
Of course, once a descriptive suffix to his given name came into
usage, the surname of McNeill was never used. He lost his eye
by foul play at the hands of a gigantic, half savage mountaineer
from the Western borders of the Province, who had challenged
him to one of the " rough and tumble " contests usual in those
rough times in such localities, when athletic sport gave no law,
and the code of the Marquis of Queensberry, like himself, was as
yet unborn. His powerful opponent had thrown him, and kneeling
on his chest, cried : " Yield, McNeill, or I'll gouge you ! "
" Gouge and be damned ! " shouted Hector, " I'm Hector Bully ! "
His agony under the operation of " gouging " lent him a quick
accession of strength to throw off the mountaineer and reverse the
situation. This brutal combat was about to end in the death of

THE McNEILL FAMILY 63

Hector's antagonist when the spectators intervened and saved his
life. Disreputable as this incident may be, it is given here to
illustrate the men, and something of the spirit of a fighting
McNeill, in the revolutionary times. Autres temps, autres moeurs.

The following incident, too, is characteristic of this rough
period. A neighbor and close friend of Hector, Duncan Murchison,
grandfather of Colonel Kenneth Murchison, who long afterwards
married one of Hector's granddaughters, became a pronounced
" Patriot," and he could not be won over to the Loyalists by any
force of argument. As the head of a large and influential family
connexion, it was most desirable to have him. After having dealt
long and faithfully with his erring neighbor to the limit of his
argumentative and persuasive powers, Hector, one evening, in
a state of exasperation with Murchison's stubborn adherence
to Whiggery, closed a heated discussion by seizing him, binding
him hand and foot to a stout pole and throwing him into his own
calf-pen. There he lay all night, and was found in a soiled and
sorry plight by his wife next morning. Murchison joined the
rebels; but he attempted no reprisal for the indignity.

It seems apposite here to make a parting reference to Fanning.
In 1823, Duncan Murchison visited St. John, New Brunswick,
and, incidentally, ran down the unsavory record of this man from
the time of his settlement in that Province after the war until
his removal to Digby, where he died in 1825. It is to be regretted
that Judge Savary, of Annapolis, should have undertaken the
unenviable task of trying to rehabilitate such a character as
Fanning, in the Canadian Magazine, and in the annotated edition
of the ridiculous and lying " Narrative," to which it has been
necessary to refer before in these pages. It would almost appear
that merely to have been a Loyalist, and to have lived and died
in Digby, entitled the unspeakable Fanning to the mantle of
charity which the Judge has sought to throw about him, — a sort
of cloak which is said to cover a multitude of sins. But charity
" rejoices in the truth." However prejudiced against Fanning
North Carolina historians may be with reference to his savage
barbarities during the war, and his immoral, or rather unmoral,
career in general, enough is admitted in the " Narrative " by
Fanning himself to sustain their indictment on the first count,
while as to the latter, the truth remains of record that in a New
Brunswick Court of Justice he was sentenced to death for a crime
which cannot here be named, and escaped from the gallows to
Digby, only through the machinations of freemasonry in high
quarters, which resulted in a pardon. The published researches
on this matter of a man with the reputation of Duncan Murchison
in North Carolina, cannot be called in question.

Colonel Hector, he of the one eye, died in a ripe old age, at his

64 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

plantation on the northern side of the Cape Fear River, a mile or
more on the road from McNeill's Ferry. The house, a large
square brick structure, stands yet on the place next to Dr. William
M. McNeill's plantation. The doctor's father-in-law, Dr. Henry
M. Turner, attended the old man in his last illness and used to
relate how, having put up medicine for the Colonel in the copious
quantities of that day, with directions for a dose three times daily,
the irascible and impatient patient, when the hour for the first
dose arrived, fiercely seized the pint bottle and drained it at a
draught. " Let the damned stuff work all thegither," said Hector,
" I'll nae be disturbed by wee bit fule drinks o' doctor stuff every
twa, tree 'oors." Whether the Colonel's death was hastened by
this remains an open question with Dr. McNeill, who, when the
writer enjoyed a sojourn at his house, formerly the home of
Dr. Turner, told this story, with some witty and instructive com-
ments on the practice of medicine in North Carolina during the
early decades of the nineteenth century.

Dr. Turner married Caroline, daughter of Capt. Neill McNeill,
and Dr. William M. McNeill married their daughter, Julia
Frances.

Dr. McNeill's father was Daniel McNeill (born December
27th, 1788; died January 17th, 1835) son of One-eyed Hector,
and who was named for my father's grandfather, Hector's brother.
The doctor's father and my father's mother were first cousins.
I can never forget the welcome I received, when dismounting at
his door ' in the dusk of an April evening, a stranger with no
credentials but my own word, he admitted me himself and on my
self-introduction threw his arms about me, exclaiming : " What,
sir ! You a great-grandson of Nova Scotia Dan'l ! Come in,
come in." When I had recovered my breath, and, hesitating
about the disposal of my horse, enquired for a lodging-place,
he seized my valise and said indignantly : " There are no hotels
in this country, sir, for Nova Scotia Dan'l's kin ! " The good
doctor was a distinguished-looking, tall, heavily-built old gentle-
man, full bearded, with a slight resemblance to General Robert
E. Lee. He had served as surgeon and corps commander, together,
in a cavalry regiment during the civil war. He proved to be one
of the most interesting men I have met.

My father's granduncle, John McNeill, though a mere boy,
served as ensign in Hamilton's Royal North Carolina Regiment,
in which his brother Daniel was a captain. Toward the close of
the war these two brothers were at home on leave while their
regiment lay inactive for a time at Charleston, South Carolina.
During this visit they bore a hand in an exploit which is typical
of the kind of guerilla fighting then being carried on by the men
of Little River and its vicinity, including some of their brothers.

THE McNEILL FAMILY 65

In the accounts of local historians John figures prominently in
the story of the night surprise at the Piney Bottom, in the region
of Little River, the exploit just referred to.

The Whig Colonel Wade, whom old Colonel Hector McNeill
had defeated at McFall's Mills, had been out on a successful
foray north of the Cape Fear River, in the course of which he
had damaged the Tory cause and had accumulated a baggage
train heavy with the spoils of devastated Tory homes. On their
homeward march, Wade's party " crossed the Cape Fear, at Sproal's,
now McNeill's ferry, in the afternoon, and after going a few miles,

took up camp for the night In the course of

that night, John McNeill, son of Archd, and Jannet (Bahn)
McNeill, then living on Anderson's Creek, having learned where
this company of Whigs were, started out his runners to collect the
Tories, many of whom were lying out in the swamps and other
places, with directions for them to rendezvous, the next night, at
Long Street, and pursue Wade. Next morning John McNeill
went over to Colonel Folsome's (Whig) and remained until sun-
down. He then mounted a very fleet horse, joined the Tories
at or a little beyond Long Street, and about an hour before day,
came up with Wade and company encamped on Piney Bottom,
a branch of the Rockfish, and apparently all asleep except the
sentinel. They consulted and made their arrangements, got into
order and marched up. The sentinel hailed them, but received
no answer. He hailed them again, but received no answer.
Duncan McCallum cocked his gun, and determined to shoot at the
flash of the sentinel's gun. The sentinel fired, and McCallum
shot at the flash. One of Wade's men had his arm broken by a
ball, and Duncan McCallum claimed the honor of breaking it.
Then they rushed upon the sleeping company just as they were
roused by the fire of the sentinel's gun, and shot down five or
six of them, but the rest escaped, leaving everything behind them.

There were two or three hundred Tories.

All the McNeills (Bahns) were there except Malcolm." All Wade's
plunder was recaptured and his own baggage and camping equip-
ment became the spoils of war. The Tories did not pursue, being
doubtful of his strength.

In a few days the Whigs returned, in force, and exacted
" a capable and full revenge," in their customary manner of
burning isolated houses in the outlying districts, slaughtering
their Loyalist occupants and looting their household goods. The
particulars, which luminously indicate the vindictive spirit and
the deeds of reckless cruelty which were then common all over
the country among the Whigs, — triumphant now and gathering
the strength of numbers as the ultimate success of the rebellion
was attaining certainty — are better left to the imagination than
described.

66 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

During the reprisals for the affair at Piney Bottom, the
McNeill homestead was visited by a party of revengeful Whigs
in search of the " boys." The only members of the family then
at home were the parents, their daughter Margaret and their son
Daniel. The other sons were away, either in a war party or
hiding out. in the woods. Situated in the heart of the Scottish
Tory territory, this McNeill home had hitherto enjoyed immunity
from hostile visitation. But the neighoring rebels were now grown
stronger and bolder in their prosecution of the civil war. As the
unwonted intruders appeared in the distance, the keen eye of the
watchful Jenny Bahn caught the glint of sunlight upon steel in
an opening of the pine woods on a hill side, far away. Divining
the errand of an armed force in that direction, she warned Daniel,
who was on the roof of the house assisting his father in making
some repairs. Daniel slipped over the ridge of the roof and
dropped to the ground in rear of the house. Hastily seizing his
arms and enough food for a few days' rations, he lost no time
in betaking himself to the swamps along the Little River.
The wily Jennet cordially received the unwelcome soldiery. The
boys were all away — she didn't know where. Some of them were
Tories, she supposed, and some of them were Whigs. How could
a woman, in such a time as this, know anything about politics
and a pack of crazy men-folks ? Archie " Scrubblin " discreetly
kept out of sight. The most minute search of the premises dis-
covered no male McNeills. Jennet then set before her deluded
visitors such ample store of tempting meat and drink that the
party, wearied, hungry and thirsty, could not resist the tempta-
tion to lose an hour in the enjoyment of this unwonted hospitality
in a Tory home; and tradition says that their enjoyment of a
certain Scottish fluid form of refreshment, most liberally provided,
neither quickened the wits nor the movements of the soldiers when
they took up the trail for the next Tory house. The wary and
cool conduct of the mother probably saved Daniel's life that day.
Soon after, he and John set out for the South to rejoin their
regiment.

The father, Archibald, took no part in the war. So highly
respected were the old couple, and so affectionately regarded by
the partisans of the other side, that they, at least, were never
disturbed on account of their Toryism ; nor were the offenses of
the sons against militant Whiggery ever visited upon the parents
and their property, as often was the case amid the punitive
excesses at the ending of the war. On one occasion, however,
it was thought advisable to hastily bury the family valuables in
a swamp; and there they remained, packed in chests and casks,
for a considerable time. The writer has a saucer which was

THE McNEILL FAMILY 67

among the household stuff so hidden, and which was brought out
by Jennet Bahn from Scotland, in the emigration.

One son, Malcolm, served for a brief period in a North
Carolina regiment of continentals, which was employed chiefly
in the North. Whether he did so on account of his political
opinions, or by reason of the astute diplomacy of the family chief-
tain, Jennet Bahn, is hardly doubtful. Family tradition gives the
latter explanation; and certain conveyances of land which were
made to Malcolm lend color to this view. Should the rebellion
be justified by success, Tory land would be forfeited to the State,
as was well understood. So Malcolm and the outwardly neutral
father, in the language of modern high finance, became a sort of
" holding company " for the family's property. Malcolm was
sheriff of Cumberland County when the war began ; and he found
in this office a valid excuse for avoiding service in the field, as
well as useful opportunities for protecting his family and Tory
friends, to whom he was of greater assistance in his nominal hostile
office than if he had renounced it to become a combatant in the
Tory ranks. My father's letter of April 10th, 1861, at a later
page, touches upon Malcolm's adroit conduct in this critical period
of the family fortunes.

One characteristic Sabbath day's work affords an illustration
of the ferocity of revenge with which the rebels retaliated for the
Piney Bottom affair, and shows what might have happened, under
different circumstances, to the McNeill home and its womenfolk.
The sufferers were neighbors of the McNeills, but their visiting
avengers were not the same company that Jennet Bahn had to
deal with.

On a Sunday morning, when David Buchan was not at home,
Captain Culp, who was Colonel Wade's second in command at
Piney Bottom, burned Buchan's house over the heads of his
defenceless family, and then came to " old Kenneth Black's."
He and his sons were " hiding out." Both doors of the house
being open, Culp's men " rode into the house until it was full
of horses, and the family were crowded up into the chimney. On
going upstairs they found and broke open two large chests belong-
ing to the families of Captains Verdy, Nicholson and McRae,
who were in the British army, and who had left their families
under the care of Mr. Black, as their houses were not far apart.
One chest was filled with chinaware, which they broke; and the
other was full of books, which they strewed over the floor, having
first cut open their backs, and rendered them useless." The house
was then sacked and fired, and the several families of women
and children, after being robbed even of their clothing and bedding,
were driven into the woods and subjected to various forms of
outrage. Immediately after this, Alexander Black's property

68 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

was similarly disposed of, and he was shot, while unarmed, in
his house. In the course of the day old Kenneth Black and one
son were discovered in their hiding-place. " They tortured the
old man Black, very much, by beating him or slapping him with
their swords, and screwing his thumb in a gun-lock until the
blood gushed out on each side, for the purpose of making him
tell where his other sons were, but they could get nothing out of
him," ("but blood," it might be added). The reverend author
of this quotation has forgotten to say whether this old man was
carried off to be murdered with some other Tories who were
bagged that Sunday.

" At this time the far-famed Flora McDonald lived four miles
north of the scene which we have been describing, upon a planta-
tion belonging to Mr. Black, on Little River. Mr. Black's
family having had the smallpox, two daughters of Flora came
over to see their friends and his family ; but to their utter surprise,
they found the Whigs there, who took the gold rings from their
fingers and the silk handkerchiefs from their necks; then putting
their swords into their bosoms, split down their silk dresses and,
taking them out into the yard, stripped them of all their outer
clothing."

The foregoing account of a rebel Sabbath day's exercises is
condensed from the pages of that savage old Presbyterian Whig
divine, Dr. Caruthers. He terms the common episode of war,
at Piney Bottom, " massacre," and " robbery," while, with hypo-
critical and even blasphemous rhetoric of the early American
" patriotic " order which is truly comic, he writes approvingly of
such enormities as have just been related, and even of atrocious
murders. The Tory partisan, Fanning, was bad. He was an
exceptional case on that side; but almost every Whig leader was
a Fanning in barbarity. Strange it is to find, seventy years after
this unnatural and hideous warfare in North Carolina, a professed
minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, after devoting one hun-
dred and fifty pages to the denunciation of Fanning' s evil deeds,
possessed with the very spirit of Fanning himself. Throughout
the book of this dotard parson there is always traceable a certain
fanatical religiosity of spirit which applies to the Whig and Tory
civil war in " the old North State," the parallel of the children
of Israel and the Canaanites. C'est pour rire; but this disposal
of Caruthers cannot be dispensed with.

One reads in Caruthers, not without some sense of satisfaction,
that Captain Culp, the leader of the Sabbath day's work above
related, was shot and killed at his house, and his house was
burned, in a summary application of the lex talionis, by some free
mulattoes named Turner, " who were Tories and very wicked,"
as our clerical authority quaintly puts it.

THE McNEILL FAMILY 69

This fratricidal strife, which in the last stages of a desultory
guerilla war, had raged about the home of the McNeills, endured
long after any effectual warfare on the British side had ceased,
and, it is said, even after the Treaty of Paris, September 3rd,
1783 ; for those Scottish folks clung stubbornly, in their isolation,
to the fixed faith that Britain would yet redeem the national
disgrace of Yorktown with fresh armies from across the sea.

The diplomacy of Jennet Bahn, and the high regard in which
the parents stood with the Whig leaders of the Cape Fear country,
saved the family property from the confiscation laws passed by
the State, and the sons, Hector, Neill and Lauchlin, were enabled
to make their peace with the new government under the terms of
the Act of Oblivion.

With Daniel and John the case was different. The " Act
of Pardon and Oblivion " passed by the Legislature of North
Carolina in 1783, contained this provision, which excepted them
from its operation : " Provided always that this Act or anything
therein contained shall not extend to pardon or discharge, or give
any benefit whatsoever to persons who have taken commissions or
have been denominated officers, and acted as such, to the King of
Great Britain."

Daniel had held three such commissions, and John, one.
To be outside the benefit of this Statute meant death, for " treason."
The other brothers, save Malcolm, had served in the " Tory army "
and in the guerilla forces, without having commissions from the
Crown. Though some officers in these auxiliary forces had held
commissions. Hector, Neill and Lauchlin (who seems to have
served as a subaltern) were elected, Hector by his regiment, in
succession to his uncle of the same name, the others by their
companies.

Though it was conceded by the family that Daniel would have
to leave the country to save his life, they were encouraged by
Whig friends to believe that John, a boy of about sixteen years,
might safely return home from Charleston, where his regiment
was when news of the peace came.

But the thirst of Colonel Wade for vengeance had not yet
been slaked by the blood of Tory men and the tears of their
widows and orphaned children. He had become a " General "
in these days of peace, a very considerable person indeed. He was
a doctrinaire of the Balfour school. There must be " no resting
place for a Tory's foot on the earth." Moreover, the youngster
John McNeill was the instigator of the night attack at Piney
Bottom which had disgraced the " General." Accordingly, we
read in the author last quoted : " After the close of the war,
General Wade had John McNeill tried for his life on account
of the robbery and murders committed at the Piney Bottom ; but

70 DANIEL McNEILL parkek, m.d.

he was acquitted, principally by the oath of Colonel Folsome, who
testified that John McNeill was at his house at or about sundown,
the evening before the massacre. This made the impression on the
minds of the jury that, considering the distance, it was not probable
he could have been there by the time the attack was made."

The reader will, no doubt, appreciate the unconscious humor
in the use of the words " robbery," " murder," and " massacre "
in this passage. John's visit to the Whig Colonel Folsome on
the eve of the attack has been before referred to. It is believed
in North Carolina that this visit was designed with a view to
the possible need of an alibi at the close of the war. Colonel
Folsome, though a Whig, was an intimate family friend and
could be relied on to help a Bahn McNeill in case of need.

At Piney Bottom John had found among Wade's plunder
stolen from a nearby Tory home, a peculiar piece of coarse cloth
which had belonged to a domestic servant of the family, named
Marren McDaniel.

" On his way home from the scene of his nocturnal slaughter
and depredation, John McNeill called on his friend and neighbor,
John McDaniel, and told him what an exploit they had per-
formed, how much plunder, money and other things, they found,
and showed him a large piece of new cloth which he had got,
and which he seemed to regard as a valuable prize. Poor Marren
McDaniel, being present, seized the cloth and claimed it as hers.
She said she could prove it by the weaver and by old Daniel
Munroe, who had paid the weaver for her. So the poor girl had her
plundered web of cloth most unexpectedly returned to her." This
recapture and restoration to the Tory servant-maid of property
of which she was robbed by Wade's party, constituted the evidence
in support of the count for " robbery " in John McNeill's indict-
ment!

" But neither old Daniel Munroe, nor Marren McDaniel,
nor the weaver were called into court, either because they could
not be found, or because it was not known that they were
acquainted with any facts involved in the case." (How this latter
supposition could exist, the shade of Caruthers alone can tell us.)
" They could have testified that John McNeill had shown them
tne cloth next day, and told them that he got it at the Piney
Bottom, where they had killed so many of Colonel Wade's com-
pany the night before; and by their testimony he must have been
condemned. Perhaps he had bribed them, and kept them con-
cealed in some place where they could not be found, until the trial
would be decided; but, however this may have been, from all
these circumstances John McNeill was ever after known by the
name of 'Cunning John.' "

Cunning John, at a somewhat mature age, appears to have

the McNeill family ti

abandoned the life of a planter and to have sought some higher
education, as is shown by a letter written by him to his brother
Daniel which is quoted in the monograph on Daniel McNeill and
his descendants.

Beyond a long catalogue of their descendants, nothing more
of the lives of Daniel's brothers subsequent to the revolutionary
war requires special mention. Like their father, they were well-
to-do in plantations and in slaves to work them; and their sub-
sequent lives were blessed in being uneventful.

We come now to the grandfather of my father, the last of
these sons of Archibald and Jennet (Balm) to be mentioned.

Investigation of historical sources of information, not required
for the preparation of the earlier monograph on Daniel McNeill
and his descendants, and a review of family traditions variously
received, have disclosed material sufficient to outline his career
during the revolutionary war; though no particulars of his per-
sonal conduct or achievements can now be discovered, because
he was outside the province of those contributors to North Carolina
history who have preserved some account of leaders, Whig and
Tory, in the civil strife which has been briefly pictured in these
pages.

Born in 1752, at the old homestead on Anderson's Creek,
Lower Little River, in the County of Cumberland, he was twenty-
four years of age in 1776. Possessed of a soldierly instinct, and
seeking a military career to the best advantage, he was not con-
tent to remain in the " Tory Army " which organized at Cross
Creek (Fayetteville) in the early months of 1776, and which was
to be confined in its operations to the civil war in the two Carolinas.
So, after it was known that the armament of Sir Henry Clinton,
Commander-in-Chief of the British army, and Admiral Sir Peter
Parker, commanding the fleet, would be in the Cape Fear at
Wilmington in June, on its way from New York for the purpose
of reducing Charleston, as the key to South Carolina, Daniel
went to Wilmington, and much to the surprise of his family and
friends, succeeded in obtaining from Clinton a lieutenant's com-
mission in the 7 1st regiment, Highland Light Infantry, to fill a
chance vacancy. It seems that only a detachment of the regiment
accompanied this expedition. The written commission is not
extant, but that he obtained it and served in this regiment aa
hereafter related was vouched for by the late James Walton
Nutting, his brother-in-law and his closest friend in after years,
who received from Daniel some account of his career, and com-
municated the story to my father and others.

The 7 1st was the celebrated regiment known as Fraser's
Highlanders, which had earned a distinguished reputation in the
Seven Years' War, had covered itself with glory at Louisburg in

72 DANIEL McNEILL pakker, m.d.

1758, before Quebec in the army of Wolfe in 1759, and in the
subsequent stages of the war which added Canada to the Empire.
As an American writer on the revolutionary war expresses it,
the regiment " was noted for its firmness and efficiency in battle."
It became a sort of proverbial eulogy, among the rebels, to say
of the continental troops in the South, when they displayed
unusual steadiness and valor in action : '" they fought like the 71st."

At Charleston, Sir Peter Parker's little fleet of two fifty-gun
ships and four frigates, with a gun-boat or two, was badly
crippled in an ill-advised attack on Fort Moultrie, situated on
an island in the harbor. When the intrepid Clinton, on foot, led
the troops in a gallant but costly attempt to storm the fort by
marching, shoulder deep, along the bar at low water, the men
of the 7 1st were close at his heels. Exposed to a terrific fire of
grape and musketry in their slow, wading advance, the troops
did not fall back until many had been drowned by the rising tide
and those in the front of the attack were obliged to save them-
selves by swimming.

Upon the failure of this expedition, Fraser's Highlanders
returned with it to New York. The regiment was subsequently
engaged in the operations and battles on Long Island, at White
Plains, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with the army having
its headquarters at New York and afterwards at Philadelphia.
In November, 1778, the 71st (two battalions) was detached by
Clinton to form part of the force commanded by Lieutenant-
Colonel Campbell (of Maclean's regiment) which was sent to
Georgia to assist General Provost in the reduction of Savannah
and the surrounding country. In this work and in the defence
of Savannah against the French forces in 1779 the 71st bore a
conspicuous part and shared in much hard fighting. Savannah
surrendered to Prevost in December, 1778, after which Georgia
was held by the British against a strong force of French as well
as Americans. Loyal sentiment in that Province was strong.
In April, 1779, the regiment participated in Prevost's invasion
of South Carolina which, though severely punishing the Ameri-
cans, failed in its objective — the capture of Charleston.

The second and much stronger expedition of Sir Henry
Clinton for the reduction of Charleston brought the 7 1st regiment
once more into the Carolinas, in the spring of the year 1780. The
armament of Clinton from New York assembled at Savannah,
the base of operations. There Prevost and Campbell joined him,
and Fraser's Highlanders served in the operations against Charles-
ton, and throughout the campaigns which followed in the two
Carolinas. Clinton was now equipped for a siege, and invested
Charleston on April 2nd. On May 12th the city surrendered.

Shortly afterwards, Sir Henry Clinton, leaving 4,000 men

the McNeill family 73

for the Southern service, under Lord Cornwallis, returned to
New York. Fraser's Highlanders remajned with this Southern
force, which was augmented by several North and South Carolina
and Georgia regiments of volunteers. Daniel McNeill continued
a subaltern in Fraser's until June 24th, 1780, when he exchanged
for a captaincy in one of these regiments of North Carolina
volunteers.

These volunteer regiments were raised by gentlemen Loyalists
of the South, assisted by British officers and by British service
funds. Prior to this period of the war they had already seen
much service, and in point of efficiency and in valor they were not
inferior to the British regiments of the line with which they were
brigaded. They were Royal Provincial Fencibles, as distinguished
from the loyal militia organization of the Provinces, which was
largely broken up by disaffection when the war began. They were
also quite distinct from such auxiliary or irregular corps as the
Scottish " Tory Army " of North Carolina. The men were
enlisted upon the same footing as regular troops. The officers
were commissioned by the Commander-in-chief of the British army
in America, or by one of his Lieutenant-Generals when he was not
accessible and the case was urgent. Thus the first of Daniel
McNeill's commissions in the Fencibles was signed by Lord Corn-
wallis, and the second by Sir Henry Clinton, as appears on page
1 of my earlier paper. Militia officers in North Carolina, after
the war began, were given commissions by Major Craig, the Com-
mandant at Wilmington, and often by regimental commanders in
the militia ; while among the irregulars the officers were usually
elected by the regiment or company.

The terms of enlistment in the Provincial regulars, or Fenci-
bles, are illustrated by the following form of advertisement used
in 1781:

" ADVERTISEMENT

" Any of His Majesty's loyal and faithful subjects, able and
" willing to serve in the Royal Nr rth Carolina Regiment com-
" manded by Col. Hamilton, are hereby requested to repair to
" his encampment. The bounty allowed for each man is three
" Guineas ; and the terms of the engagement are that he shall
" serve during the rebellion and within the Provinces of North
"and South Carolina and Virginia only; that during his service
" he shall be entitled to clothing, pay, provisions, and all the
" advantages of His Majesty's Regular and Provincial Troops.
" and at the end of the rebellion, when he becomes discharged,
" of course, he is to receive as a reward for his services during
" the war a free grant of land agreeable to His Majesty's
" proclamation."

Regiments of Provincials, or Fencibles, were not numbered,
but were distinguished by the names of their commanders, as was
the case with some of the Highland regiments in the British army

74 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

for some time after their formation, — Fraser's, for example. The
distinguishing name of the regiment in which Daniel McNeill
commanded a company during the campaigns of Lord Cornwallis in
North and South Carolina is not now known. He lost the original
commission, which would have disclosed his colonel's name; and
the only evidence of its contents is the bare certificate of its grant
which he subsequently obtained to assist him in obtaining his
half-pay of a Captain in the British army and his share of a grant
of land in Nova Scotia. This certificate appears on the first page
of my earlier paper.

The two campaigns of Cornwallis in the Carolinas were char-
acterized by rapid movements, hard-fought battles and minor
engagements following fast upon each other, all stubbornly con-
tested on either side, and with much in-fighting, or hand-to-hand
work, — and all with varying fortune. They ended in the retire-
ment of Lord Cornwallis northward, upon what proved to be his
last march, with the American general, Greene, left in undisputed
possession of North Carolina.

The battles of these campaigns in which Daniel McNeill par-
ticipated were the first battle of Camden, one at Charlotte (the
"Hornets' Nest," as Cornwallis called it), Cowpens and Guild-
ford Court House. The skirmishes, pursuits, retreats and hand-
to-hand struggles between small parties were incessant, and too
numerous for these pages to detail. Family tradition says that
Daniel received one of his wounds in the British disaster at King's
Mountain, North Carolina, at this period ; but the writer is satis-
fied that the only British troops detached for service at that point
were 150 men of a line regiment, who went to the assistance of a
raw embodiment of local Loyalists or Tory irregulars threatened
by a superior force of disciplined continentals.

When, in April, 1781, Lord Cornwallis marched into Virginia,
Daniel McNeill's regiment remained with the army of occupation
in the South, under Lord Rawdon and Colonel Stewart. Passing
into South Carolina, this force fought several engagements with
the army of General Greene which followed it, much superior in
numbers to the retreating British. On the 25th of April occurred
the second battle of Camden, which was won by Lord Rawdon's
little army, but with such severe loss that he was obliged to retire
to " Ninety-Six," an entrenched camp, about fifty miles north-west
from Charleston, and which had long been a British post, or base
of operations. General Greene rallied his beaten troops and
invested this post, intending a siege. Short, as he was, in artil-
lery and supplies, Rawdon felt compelled to evacuate " Ninety-
Six," and cutting his way through the besiegers in June, he
marched to Eutaw Springs, nearer to Charleston, and encamped
there to refresh his exhausted troops and to care for his wounded.

the McNeill family 75

He had some hope of reinforcement from Georgia, but it did not
come.

On August 20th, 1781 (the date of his third commission), or
about that time, Daniel McNeill exchanged into Hamilton's regi-
ment of the Royal North Carolinas, Fencibles, which was part of
Rawdon's force. His young brother John was an ensign in Ham-
ilton's but the reason for the exchange is not known. This was a
regiment which had won distinction in various Southern cam-
paigns. One incident in its career is mentioned by Moore. When,
on December 29th, 1778, the American army of General Robert
Howe was driven from Savannah, Georgia, by General Prevost,
Hamilton's regiment, composed of North Carolina men, was con-
fronted by the Second Regiment of North Carolina Continentals.
A bloody and heroic duel of regiments, at close quarters, ensued,
embittered by the circumstance that it was a struggle between
neighbors and former friends.

On the 8th of September, Greene came up, with overwhelming
strength, and the battle of Eutaw Springs was fought. The
British lost about 1,100 men in killed, wounded and prisoners.
The Americans confessed to a loss as great. It was a drawn
battle, both sides retaining their ground as at its commencement,
and neither general desirous to resume the debate. But Lord
Rawdon's little force was now so greatly reduced, and so burdened
with its wounded, that there was nothing for it but to retreat to
Charleston. Greene did not attempt to follow, and the Southern
campaign of 1781 was closed.

Next month the news of Lord Cornwallis' surrender in Vir-
ginia came to Charleston, substantially closing the war.

Greene's army, which had been reinforced by General Anthony
Wayne's Rangers, sat down before Charleston, but at a respectful
distance. The armies kept close watch upon each other; sorties
and minor skirmishes were frequent, but no siege was undertaken
by the Americans. Both sides were awaiting the outcome of the
British fatality at Yorktown, the reduced army of Rawdon too
weak to take the field, and Greene content to await orders from
headquarters. Thus passed for Daniel McNeill the closing
months of 1781 and the year 1782, until December; but it was
towards the close of this period of comparative inactivity that, as
has been related, he and his brother John visited the old home at
Lower Little River. Daniel then saw his parents for the last time,
and his stay had to be brief.

In December, 1782, orders came from Sir Guy Carleton, who
had superseded Sir Henry Clinton as Commander-in-chief, to
evacuate Charleston and proceed to St. Augustine, in East Florida,
in shipping sent from New York, and to remove with the troops
such Loyalists as might wish to leave the country. Large numbers

76 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

of non-combatants, North and South Carolinians and Georgians,
accompanied the army, and from Florida departed to make for
themselves new homes in Great Britain, the West India Islands
and the British Provinces of North America.

From December, 1782, to September, 1783, Captain McNeill
remained at St. Augustine with his regiment. Commissioners
from England came to St. Augustine to determine the thousands
of claims for compensation made by the Southern Loyalists gath-
ered there, and to distribute accordingly the Southern allotment
of the sum of money, very inadequate, which was voted by Parlia-
ment, " in support of the American sufferers who have relinquished
their properties or professions from motives of loyalty to me and
attachment to the mother country," as the King's speech expressed
it, on the opening of Parliament in 1782.

Captain McNeill was recommended to the government by the
commissioners for the half-pay of a captain in the British army
during the remainder of his life, which he afterwards obtained,
and, with four or five hundred officers and men from his own
regiment, the Royal South Carolina Regiment, and the King's
Carolina Rangers, he agreed to accept a share in a grant of land
in Nova Scotia, offered by the commissioners, all the grantees to
receive full pay until their settlement in that Province, with
transportation thither at the expense of government, should be
effected.

Colonel John Hamilton, commanding Daniel's regiment,
retired to England, accompanied by Lieut.-Colonel Archibald
McKay, a Cape Fear Scotsman who commanded another regiment
of Royal North Carolina Provincials. From the fact that Captain
McNeill, in 1785, was corresponding on intimate terms with Col-
onel McKay, then in London, it may be conjectured that McKay's
Royal North Carolina Regiment was the corps from which the
Captain exchanged into Hamilton's. I have learned of only two
regiments of this class raised in North Carolina.

As Daniel's name is found signed to a certificate ,of service,
dated at St. Augustine, September 20th, 1783, given by Colonel
Hamilton and four captains of his regiment to assist a Loyalist in
his claims for compensation, it must have been soon after that
date that McNeill and his brother officer, Captain John Leggatt,
came to Nova Scotia to attend to the business of locating and
obtaining the land grant above mentioned. That he was in
Halifax in November- is attested by the following receipt for a
slave whom he left there, probably when he and Captain Leggatt
were travelling about the Province examining " the promised
land," and sailed down the eastern coast to look over the site which
Governor Parr and his Council proposed to grant, in fulfilment
of the award made by the " Commissioners of American Claims."

the McNeill family 77

The receipt which fixes this date reads :

"Halifax, 29 November, 1783.
" These are to certify that a Black Boy, by the name of Bill, or Wil-
liam, The Property of Captain Daniel McNeale, late of the Royal North
Carolina Regiment Leaves with me, in trust, for six months from the
date hereof, the said Black Boy — on consideration of Feeding and Cloth-
ing the said boy. Witness, Phi. Newton."

By Daniel McNeill's endorsement on this receipt, it appears
that Philip Newton was a captain in the British army. The
receipt was written by him; hence the improper spelling of
McNeill's name.

In the following spring the exiled officers and soldiers arrived.
Before their arrival Captains McNeill and Leggatt had much
arduous duty of detail to perform in the preliminary work of pre-
paring for the temporary shelter and victualling of such a large
number of settlers at Country Harbor, many of whom were bring-
ing with them wives and families. To appreciate this, one must
remember that at this time there was no settlement whatever in
the whole of what is now Guysborough County, and supplies of all
necessaries had to be taken by water from Halifax.

From this point, let the reader turn to the narrative on Daniel
McNeill and his descendants, to learn more of what is known of
his life in Nova Scotia. What follows here will supplement that.

In that narrative a visit to North Carolina in the year 1811
is mentioned. The recent discovery of a letter from him to James
Walton Nutting, when the latter was a student at King's College,
Windsor, discloses that the Captain made an earlier visit to his
old home, near the close of the year 1806, upon the same
mission. This letter is dated at Halifax the 29th of Novem-
ber, 1806, and begins: "I am still here day after day
expecting the ship to sail. I am much perplexed in mind,
dare not go home, fearing I should miss my passage. . . ."
It is of too personal a nature to present in full. The
writer commits his business affairs at home to the care of
young Nutting, his brother-in-law, in whose capacity and judg-
ment he seems to have reposed great confidence. Referring to
his daughters, he writes : " Dear James, should anything happen
to me before my return, I have a heart-felt satisfaction that you
are so far advanced that you will be able to take care of that Dear
Female family who have no male of any great ideas to serve them.
Make the best of your time where you are at present. If God
spares your mother and myself, I have no doubt but we shall be
able to complete your education as you have wished. You have
good ideas, and I hope you will take care of yourself. Keep clear
of Bad Company. Shake off your acquaintance with Mrs.
A. . . ." Here follows salutary advice, expressed in Ian-

78 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

guage pointed and direct, from a man who knew the world to a
young college student, exposed to the temptations of the social
life of the Windsor of that day. Of the moral aspects of that life
the Captain evidently held strong opinions, but not complimentary.
The letter concludes : "I hope and trust God that my daugh-
ters will never 4hink so little of themselves as (to) mix with such,
even should I never return. But I hope in God that I shall be
spared to return and arrange my business myself. Be prudent
and make the best of your time there. You'll make my best
respects to Campbell and Family, and believe me to be,
" Your very affectionate brother,

" D. McNeill."

The few letters extant, written by him, indicate that Cap-
tain McNeill was a man of action, quick to think, prompt in
decision, ready in resource; upright in character, and one who
feared God, though not conspicuous in what usually passes for
piety. They indicate a habit of mind contemptuous of the shams
and humbugs of conventional " Society." He was evidently a
typical blunt soldier of the period, with little education beyond
that acquired in early life from his parents at his frontier planta-
tion home, and, later, what military training sufficed for his duty
in camp and field. We find in his letters an intense devotion to
his wife and daughters, with an overwhelming solicitude for the
future of his children when they had become bereft of a mother's
care in tender years. That he himself, in exile, was affectionately
held in mind by his immediate family in North Carolina, and that
the memory of " Nova Scotia Dan'l," as he is called to this day
in the Cape Fear country, was cherished for long years among his
later kith and kin, is witnessed by the scores of McNeills and
members of allied families, from generation to generation, who
have borne the name of Daniel in his honor.

No portrait of him exists, but he is said to have been of more
than medium stature, ruddy of countenance and smooth-shaven,
slight in youth, but with a figure in later life which we designate
as burly. A scarlet tunic belonging to one of his uniforms was
treasured as a relic by Colonel Archibald McNeill (Neill's son)
when he entertained my father at McNeill's Ferry in 1861. My
father tried it on and it fitted his figure fairly well, though rather
scantily. Nothing would induce this nephew of Captain Daniel
to relinquish the " Tory coat " in favor of a grandson. It was
consumed when Colonel Archibald's house was burned in 1870.

The object of the Captain's two visits to North Carolina, in
1806 and 1811, was to recover his share in his father's estate. At
the risk of being thought tedious, I embody in this narrative a
copy of the will upon which his prolonged litigation with the

THE McJSTEILL FAMILY 79

executors arose. The Supreme Court of North Carolina appears
to have decided that devises and bequests to a Loyalist outside the
protection of the Act of Pardon and Oblivion were void. Which
of his brothers, if any, raised this question, or whether his brother
Neill and the other executor felt it to be their duty, in their fidu-
ciary capacity, to raise it, does not appear. There seems to have
been a partial compromise in the end.

WILL OR ARCHIBALD McNEILL.
" In the name of God," Amen.

I, Archibald MacNeill, of Cumberland County and State of North
Carolina, now considering myself frail in body, tho of perfect mind and
memory, and well knowing that it i? appointed for all men once to die,
do make this my last will and testament.

I assign my soul to its Creator in all humble hope of its future
happiness as in the disposall of a being infinitely good. As to my body,
my will is that it be buried decently beside my spouse in our old bury-
ing place.

I make and appoint my son-in-law John MacNeill and my son Neill
MacNeill or whichever of the cne survivor of the other, sole executors
of this my last will and testament.

As to my worldlye estate I dispose thereof as follows:

I give and bequeath to my son John and his wife during their life-
time, the plantation now occupied by them, and after their decease, if
no lawful heir of John's own body survive him or his wife, I order said
plantation to be the property of my son Daniel and his heirs.

I also bequeath to said John and his wife during their lifetime two
negro wenches, named Tillie and Nell, and after their death if said
negroes survive them, I order and desire said negroes, with their issue,
to be given up to my daughter Margaret McNeill and her heirs.

Item: I give and devise to my son Daniel three hundred and twenty-
three acres of land, more or less, lying in Chatham County, near the
mouth of New Hope, also a tract or parcel of land lying on McKay's
Creek in this county, and in case my son Daniel, nor any of his heirs in
Nova Scotia, should never come to claim the said plantations, I order the
said plantations to be equally divided betwixt my son Hector's son
Daniel and my grandson John McNeill's son, also named Daniel.

Item: I give and bequeath to my son Hector one hundred acres join-
ing his land on Trantom's Creek, and one hundred and fifty acres on said
creek known by the name of the Black Smith's old field. I also bequeath
to him two negro fellows, Will and Bacchus, junior.

Item: I give and devise to my daughter, Margaret McNeill, a negro
wench, named Teaner, together with her children, and another negro
wench named Beth, and also two negro fellows, named Virgil and Angus.
I likewise give and devise to her, during her lifetime, two hundred acres
of land on the North East side of Cape Fear river below the ferry, com-
monly known by the name of Sproall's ferry, and after her decease I
order said two hundred acres of land to be the property of my son Neill
and his lawful heirs.

Item: I -?ive and bequeath and devise to her son Daniel the planta-
tation on Jones' Creek, and the lands adjoining it now my property.

Item: I bequeath to her son Archibald a iplantation in Moore County,
known by the name of Hurd's old field, and in Cumberland County, one
hundred acres, Survey known by the name of Loften's island, also a
parcell of land in the fork of Anderson's creek, known by the name of
Hodge's Survey.

Item: I give and devise to my son Neill the ferry lands containing
four hundred and forty acres, the lands bought from James Patterson,

so DxVxiel McNeill parker, m.d.

and all the lands belonging to me in the waters of Lower Little River,
also two negro fellows named Charles and Cupid, and the four negro
wenches named Judith, Nan, Fanny and Flora.

Item: I give and bequeath to his daughter Janet the little negro
wench named Abitha.

Item: I give and devise to my granddaughter Janet Shaw the negro
girl named Judith, and after said Janet's death, I order the negro girl
Judith and her issue to be equally divided among the lawful heirs of
said Janet's own body.

Item: I give and bequeath to my grandson John McNeill, John
Scrubblin's son, one hundred acres of land, more or less, lying on the
bear branch, commonly known by the name of Peggy Black old field, and
likewise another_piece of land close to it, known by the name of King's
School-house.

Item: I give and devise to my two grandchildren, Daniel Hector's
son and Lauchlin Neill's son, to be equally divided betwixt them, a lot in
the town of Fayetteville.

Item: I give and bequeath to my son Hector two hundred and fifty
acres on the flat land from the meadow to the old place. Also two hun-
dred and fifty acres joining the old survey, that was the property of
Roger MacNeill. Also one hundred and fifty acres on the Blue branch
and Trantom's Creek, likewise fifty acres lying between the old lands of
McKay and McNair.

Item: I give and devise to my grandson Coll MacNeill two hundred
acres on Stewart's creek.

Item: I give and devise to my son John two hundred acres on
Anderson's Creek joining the old place. Fifty acres on the ford,
Carver's Creek, I bequeath to my son John.

Item: I give and devise to my son Neill the plantation I bought
from Rob't McKay and the lands adjoining it.

Item: I give and devise to my granddaughters, Malcolm's children,
Janet, Flora and Isabel, five shillings sterling each.

Item: I bequeath to my son Daniel twenty milch cows out of my
stock, to be sold and the money put to interest for the benefit of Daniel
and his heirs.

Item: I bequeath to my son Neill's daughter Janet my flock of sheep.

Item: I give and devise to my son Neill the remainder of my stock
of cattle and wild horses on condition he will not interfere with my son
Hector's stock, also my stock of hogs. Also a still to be equally divided
between Neill and my grandson Archibald John Scrubblin's son.

The rest of my household furniture and worldly property I give and
devise to my son Neill in hopes he will make good use of it.

If my daughter Margaret should in a short time after this be taken
away by death, I order that her children while they keep together be
allowed by my son Neill to live at Sproall's Cowpen on Thornton Creek.
I also order that she during her lifetime remain on the place where she
and her family now live.

This my last Will and testament written this 17th of April, A.D.
1801, and signed in presence Revd. Angus McDairmid and Hector
McNeill, both living on Little River.

(Sgd.) Archibald MacNeill.

(Sgd.) Angus MacDaxrmid Witnesses.
Hector MacNeill.

From the omission of Malcolm's name in the will it may be
inferred either that he died before his father, or that, out of the
land " deals " in war time, to which reference has been made, he
had received his share of the paternal estates. Coll, named in the
will, was one of his four sons. The others are not named, and
his three daughters were " cut off " with five shillings apiece.

the McNeill family si

Malcolm was the Whig or rebel son of this Tory family. There
is, in these circumstances, some indication of a " family jar."

The son-in-law John McNeill, named an executor, had married
Margaret, commonly called Peggy, the testator's daughter. He
bore the suffix "Scorblin" or " Scrubblin " (no good). The
date of Archibald's death was June 26th, 1801. Examination of
his will shows that he specifically devised more than four square
miles of land, the acreage of which is expressed, besides five or six
other plantations, the extent of which is not defined, and several
detached parcels or lots of land as well, while the residuary devise
to his son Neill may have included more land. Sixteen domestic
slaves are given by the will, but there were doubtless many planta-
tion hands to go with the residuary estate to Neill. In 1861
Neill's son, Colonel Archibald, a first cousin of my father's
mother, had seventy slaves on the Ferry plantation alone, and he
owned two otheri plantations, from which, with his timber gangs,
he could muster three hundred and fifty slaves for getting in his
cotton crops.

There were thirty-two first cousins of my father's mother,
exclusive of a number who died young and whose names are not
recorded.

The genealogical chart of the Balm McNeills, referred to in
the Introduction to these Memoirs, is too voluminous for inser-
tion here. The manuscript may be copied by any descendant of
my father having sufficient interest and patience.

In concluding this account of the family, it will not be amiss
to refer to a suggestion made to me by Judge Savary, that the
McNeills of Digby County, a numerous progeny, derive descent
from a branch of the North Carolina family collateral to that of
Archibald and Jennet Bahn. If this be so, there would be a
common origin either in Archibald's father, Lauchlin, or in the
father of Lauchlin, Black Neill. Judge Savary, who is learned
in the history of the Loyalists and has written much on the sub-
ject, thinks that the progenitors of the Digby family were North
Carolinians. Sabine leaves this in doubt. The ancestors, un-
doubtedly, were Loyalists who arrived at the close of the Revolu-
tion. The similarity of their names to those of the early Bahn
McNeills is striking. Neill McNeill was a Loyalist captain. He
settled first at Wilmot, Annapolis County, and some of his
descendants are there to this day. He afterwards removed to
Digby town, and was buried in the Trinity Church cemetery there.
He had a son, Archibald; and an Archibald, either Neill's son or
his brother, who, according to Sabine, was a captain in the Royal
Artillery, settled on the St. John River in New Brunswick. This
Archibald married a member of the Sears family, which was
among the families who first settled St. John, or Parr Town, as it

82 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

was originally called, and had the distinction of registering the
first birth in that town.

I may here remark that no connection can be traced between
the North Carolina McNeills and those of the name settled in
eastern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.

Of the family life at " Cambridge " and Windsor no materials
now remain for any attempt at description. The plantation was
not a success, in a financial sense. Captain and Mrs. McNeill
appear to have had a standing arrangement to spend the winters
in Windsor, and there, chiefly, the daughters were educated. Par-
ticulars relating to the Crown grant of " Cambridge " are given in
connection with the foregoing account of the Parker grants at
Walton. To complete the story of Daniel McNeill's career, a
copy of his will, probated at Windsor, is presented here. Some-
thing of mind and character usually is revealed by such an instru-
ment. Further, it is of interest to his descendants to know the
extent to which fortune and endeavor had finally endowed with
worldly possessions this plain soldier, in exile for the lost cause
of a political ideal. In his case, at least, the rewards of faith and
loyalty are found not to be material.

In describing himself as of Newport, the testator refers to the
township of that name.

WILL OF DANIEL McNEILL.
In the name of God, Amen.

I, Daniel McNeill of Newport, in the County of Hants and Province
of Nova Scotia, Esquire, late captain in His Majesty's Royal North
Carolina Regiment, DO make, publish and declare this my last Will and
Testament in manner and form following, that is to say:

I give, devise and bequeath unto my eldest daughter Mary Jenette
McNeill, her heirs, executors and assigns all my lands tenements and
hereditaments situate, lying and being in the County of Sydney* and
Province aforesaid, viz., town lots numbers 42, 44, 45, 47, 156, 209, 210,
211, 212, in the township of Stormont, and two other lots numbers
unknown, one drawn by me and the other purchased from Captain John
Matrie, and ten acres of cleared land back of the town plot, beginning
at the lower corner of Broad Street. Also farm lots numbers 61 and 67,
containing five hundred acres each, situate in Country Harbour, pur-
chased by me from the said John Matrie. Also farm lot, number 33,
containing five hundred acres, partly drawn, and partly purchased by me
from Thomas Bates and Roger Boyd. Also farm lot number 4 in Country
Harbour aforesaid, containing five hundred acres, partly drawn by me
and partly purchased from Samuel Dier. Also two other farm lots, thus
situate, one on Country Harbour Lake, and the other on the west side of
Country Harbour marked on the plan. Also all the lands purchased by
me from Major Daniel Manson, from Thomas Manson and Roderick
McLeod, and a lot of land granted me at Fisherman's Harbour, and also
all my other lands, tenements or hereditaments situate in said County
of Sydney. And I also give, devise and bequeath to my said daughter,
Mary Jennette, all that farm messuage and premises with the appur-

•Now Guysborough.

THE McNEILL FAMILY 83

tenances, known by the name of Spring Hill Farm, containing one thou-
sand five hundred acres, more or less, situate on the Basin of Minas
next lands owned by James Walton Nutting. Also all that lot of land
situate on the south side of the Petite River, purchased by me from
Leslie, containing five hundred acres, more or less. Also all the marsh
land whatsoever, adjoining said last mentioned tract, and also all the
marsh adjoining the lower half of the tract of one thousand acres on the
south side of said river granted me by Government, except as hereinafter
excepted. Also ten acres of marsh land on the north side of said Petite
River, purchased by me from William Parker, junior. Also all that tract
of land situate on the Cock Magun River, together with a right throughout
the township of Newport, purchased by me from John Jones, and all my
other lands, tenements and hereditaments whatsoever, in said County of
Hants, except as hereinafter excepted.

I also give, devise and bequeath to my said daughter, Mary J. McNeill,
all that farm lot of land and premises in Moore County, State of North
Carolina in the United States of America, known by the name of Piedd
Farm on Deep RiveT, containing three hundred acres, more or less.
Also all that farm in said North Carolina in the county aforesaid, known
by the name of Cane Brake, containing one hundred acres, more or less.
Also all that farm situate on Cape Fear River in Cumberland County in
the State last aforesaid, and all my other lands and tenements in said
County. Also all the share, title, right and interest which I have or
possess in a ferry on Cape Fear River called Sproule's Ferry. And also
my other lands, tenements and hereditaments whatsoever, in the said
State of North Carolina or elsewhere. I also give and bequeath to my
said daughter Mary J. McNeill, all and singular my personal estate,
goods, monies, effects' or credits which I may die possessed of in the
said Province of Nova Scotia, in the said State of North Carolina, or else-
where whatsoever. To have and to hold all and singular the aforementioned
and described lands, messuages, tenements, hereditaments and appurten-
ances and premises, unto my said daughter, Mary Jennette McNeill, her
heirs and assigns, to and for her, and their only proper use, benefit and
behoof forever.

And I give, devise and bequeath to my youngest daughter, Sophia
Margaret Terhune, the lower half of a tract of land of one thousand
acres, granted by Government, situate on the south side of Petite River
aforesaid, said half containing five hundred acres, more or less, with the
piece of marsh adjoining the same where the Sled road now is,
being the piece opposite the mouth of Mill Creek, all the other
marsh adjoining said land, being hereinbefore devised to my
eldest daughter. To have and to hold the said half tract of land and
premises to the said Sophia Margaret Terhune, for her use for and dur-
ing her natural life, and after her decease I give, devise and bequeath
the same to the heirs of her body lawfully issuing, equally share and
share alike, to have and to hold to them and their heirs forever, but not
to be divided until the youngest shall be of age. And in case my said
daughter should die without heirs, I give, devise and bequeath the same
to my said eldest daughter, Mary J. McNeill, to have and to hold to her
heirs and assigns forever. And I do hereby make, constitute and
appoint James Walton Nutting to be the sole executor of this my last will
and testament.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this
eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun-
dred and fourteen.

Attestation clause. (Sgd.) Danl. McNeill (L.S.)

Witnesses :

(Sgd.) Jabeo Ingersoll Chlpman,

RlCHU. KlOSTON,

W. Hill.

daniel McNeill parker, m.d.

CODICIL.

" I, Daniel McNeill, the testator named in the foregoing will, do
hereby make, publish and declare the following as a Codicil to my said
Will and in revocation of such part thereof as is hereinafter mentioned,
that is to say, I hereby revoke, set aside and make void the clause in
my said will whereby I have devised to my youngest daughter, Sophia
Margaret Terhune, and her heirs, the tract of land and premises therein
mentioned, being the lower half part of a tract of land of one thousand
acres granted me by Government, I having by deed made over to my said
daughter and her heirs a certain other tract of land containing five hun-
dred acres more or less purchased by me from — 'Leslie, situate on the
south side of said Petite River, in said deed mentioned and described,
and under certain conditions and restrictions in said deed mentioned.

" (Sgd.) Danl. McNeill (L.S.)'

Attestation clause.
Witnesses:

" (Sgd.) John Wallace,
" J. W. Nutting."

The date of Daniel McNeill's death was May 5th, 1818.

The unequal division of his estate by the foregoing testa-
mentary disposition is due to the fact that the Captain highly
disapproved of the marriage which his younger daughter, Sophia,
had made with Daniel Terhune about five years before her father's
will was made, when she was only sixteen. Her father thought
she had married beneath her station in life, and too young. The
elder daughter married about two years after her father's death.

Though the will devises some nine square miles (in the aggre-
gate) of land in Nova Scotia, beside eleven Stormont or Country
Harbor Townsite lots, its maker in reality was " land-poor " ; for
much of this property was of little if any value then,
or for many years afterwards, and he had paid much
too dearly for that part of it which he had purchased. He
had inherited the Cape Fear Scot's proclivity for multiplying
his landed possessions, with the notion that mere acreage would
be wealth. Hisj executor and his son-in-law, Francis Parker, did
what they could to realize on the Country Harbor properties, but
there was no sale for them, and gradually they passed into the pos-
session of land-grabbing settlers. To eject the squatters would
have cost more than the land was worth, and nothing was ever
derived from these properties after the Captain's death. The
grant of 1784 was finally escheated to the Crown about the year
1888, in order to make title to part of the land for gold-mining
speculators.

The original name of "Cambridge" given to Captain McNeill's
homestead property became attached to the community about it;
so we find the homestead, in the will, called by its later name,
" Spring Hill Farm."

There is pathos in the unavailing devise of the lost plantations

THE McNEILL FAMILY 85

in North Carolina to the daughter Mary Janet. These comprised
about five hundred acres. At no time could the proscribed Loy-
alist reasonably hope that his children would be forgiven for the
father's loyalty to the British Crown. Yet, to the last, the old
soldier clung to the idea that somehow, sometime, his daughter
might succeed, where he had failed, in obtaining natural justice,
albeit nothing but legislation by the State of North Carolina could
have redressed the father's and the daughter's wrongs. To think
of regaining these properties in 1814, or afterwards, was a futility,
but surrender claim and hope the Captain would not. A will
speaks from the testator's deathbed. The transmission of his
righteous claim was but a dying father's cry for justice to his
helpless child from a relentlessly vindictive government which
visited upon the children the so-called sin of their fathers: the
loyal patriotism of gallant men converted into political sin by suc-
cessful rebellion.

CHAPTER III.
EARLY YEARS.

" Faber quisque fortunae suae."

— Sallust.

By way of preface to this account of my father's life, I shall
quote from a tribute to the memory of his father, written at the
time of the latter's death, for The Christian Messenger, by Rev.
Jeremiah Bancroft, the Baptist pastor at Walton for many years.
The extracts here given will justly fill out the portrait of my grand-
father briefly sketched in my earlier paper, while throwing some
light upon the early home life and influences which .contributed
to the moulding of my father's character in the plastic time of
youth. Mr. Bancroft wrote:

" Francis Parker, son of the late John and Sarah Parker, was
born at Walton, February, 1797. When about sixteen years of
age he went as clerk to the late Benjamin DeWolf, of Windsor.
In consequence of his faithfulness in that department he was some
years after taken into the firm. After some time he moved to
Cambridge, and finally to Walton. He received a Magistrate's
Commission at an early day. He here engaged in extensive busi-
ness and did much toward the improvement of the place, and the
encouragement of industry in agriculture, plaster and shipbuild-
ing. Naturally generous and obliging, he sometimes divided his
last barrel of flour with those who were destitute, and the last loaf
of bread has been by him divided while supplies were being
expected. In times of prosperity, although not a professor of
religion, he erected a house for worship. After finishing the
outside so far as to make it comfortable for service, the Episco-
palians aided him in finishing the building, which he donated to
them, with land adjoining for a burying-ground. Possessing a
benevolent disposition, his house was a home for all Protestant
ministers visiting Walton. The writer first visited the place in
December, 1848, under the direction of the Baptist Missionary
Board, and was invited to make Mr. Parker's house his home when
there. This continued till June, 1850. The Episcopal clergy-
man, the Wesleyan and the Baptist were each in turn made wel-
come every four weeks. Other ministers visiting the place partook
of his hospitality and found not only a resting-place, but a home.
This continued while he kept house. In the summer of 1860, the

EARLY YEARS 87

Rev. Mr. Scott visited Walton as a missionary, through whose
efforts (encouraged by Mr. Parker) a Baptist meeting-house was
undertaken and finished the winter following, the late J. W.
Nutting, Esq., of Halifax, giving the ground. When the house
was completed (after Mr. Parker paying all his subscription)
there was due him on the building eighty pounds, which was never
called for. When enquired of by the writer, after the house was
dedicated, as to how this sum was to be raised, he said, ' I have
concluded to let it stand.' This act of generosity was most advan-
tageous to the Baptist interest here. During the winter, while
the house was being finished, young men from Acadia College
and others visiting the place, preached and held protracted meet-
ings. As a result a number were baptized by Rev. D. G. Shaw,
who, with the late Rev. George Dimock, had attended for that
purpose, among whom were F. Parker, Esq., and his amiable wife,
a truly pious woman who was an ornament to society and to the
Church as well. In March following the house was dedicated, and
in April, four weeks from the dedication, a church was organized,
consisting of fourteen members. Brother Parker was ordained to
the office of Deacon, which he creditably filled till called home.
Brother Parker was also requested to act as church clerk, which he
did till 1880, when he tendered his resignation . . . The
consistent faithfulness of our departed brother in church matters
was most satisfactory, and on trying occasions convinced those
present of the reality of his profession. He was gentle and un-
assuming, yet faithful under trials ; he also possessed decision and
perseverance in carrying out what he thought was right. .
His was a peaceful, happy end; .the state of his mind may be
understood by his requesting others to meet him in Heaven, and
suggesting the reading of the twenty-third Psalm, when prayer
at his request was about being offered. His mind was clear and
his faith strong; thus the righteous hath hope in his death. He
died on the evening of the twenty-fourth of August, in his eighty-
sixth year. . . . Mr. Parker's first wife was removed by
death, June 14th, 1866. She was faithful through life and peace-
ful in death. In June, 1868, he was again united in marriage
with Anna, widow of the late Dr. Boyington, of Portland, Maine.
She also departed this life, November, 1876, at Halifax, N. S., on
her return from Portland, Maine."

I am unable to fix the time when Francis Parker removed from
Windsor to Cambridge, where he resided for a time at Spring Hill
Farm, at the commencement of his business operations in Walton ;
but my father was then very young, probably three years old. His
earliest recollection gathered about a serious accident which befel
him at Cambridge, when he was in his fifth year. Straying into
the pasture where his father's favorite old mare, " Maggie," was

88 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

at large, he approached from behind to drive her by the tail, when
the animal flung out her heels and the front of one shoe caught the
child on the forehead, hurling him many feet away. An Irish
farm hand who was near by picked him up for dead, and holding
him by the ankles, to protect his own clothing from the streaming
blood, carried the little inanimate form to the house, where he
deposited his burden on the kitchen floor before the mother,
exclaiming, " He's kilt, marm, he's kilt entirely !" There was
no doctor nearer than Windsor; but the mother's resourcefulness
was equal to the emergency, and " Maggie," with the father
behind her, atoned for her offence that day by fetching the far-
away doctor at a speed which established a record for the distance.
The terrific blow indented the boy's skull. Had the frontal bone
been hardened by a few more years' growth, it would have been
fractured. All who knew him will recall the imprint of that
mare's shoe over my father's right eye, for he carried this mark
to the grave.

At a tender age he had a second narrow escape from death,
when he fell out of a boat into the Petite Eiver. Two of his
brothers were with him, and one seized him by the feet as he was
disappearing, head downwards, beneath the surface. Then keep-
ing his head under water by holding fast, each to a foot, both
brothers screamed lustily for help, finding that they were not
strong enough to pull him back into the boat. Their father
chanced to be near by, and, plunging into the river, he brought the
drowning child's head to the surface and forcibly released the
frantic grip of the others upon the feet. It was done barely in
time, for there was much ado to resuscitate the victim of this novel
method of his little brothers, who were drowning him in their
endeavor to save him.

Daniel was still a small boy when his father built the well-
remembered house overlooking the river in the central part of
Walton village, set into the slope of the hill with its access from
the rear above, and its large general country store and counting-
house beneath forming the first floor on a level with the main
street. This became at once the homestead and the centre of
Walton's business activity when it was the thriving community
which Francis Parker made it.

The intensity of my father's love for this old home of his
boyhood and of his filial affections can be attested by his children,
who from time to time accompanied him on his visits to Walton ;
while in his last years his conversation with them showed that his
mind was continually reverting tenderly to this scene and the
times of his earliest recollection, in which his father and his
mother were the central figures about whom his thoughts revolved.

His first school-teacher was Michael Cody, a Eoman Catholic

EARLY YEARS 89

Irish immigrant who had settled at Walton and established a
boarding and day school for boys. He was an intelligent man,
of fairly good education, and a successful teacher. His daughter,
Margaret, widow of Henry Conlon, now eighty-two years of age,
still resides in Walton, and has a clear recollection of " Doctor
Dan " as a little schoolboy. She recalls also that she was present
in his home in 1845 when his mother read from The Nova Scotian
a paragraph announcing that he had won a gold medal at Edin-
burgh. He was about six years old when he entered this Walton
school, and he attended it for about six years. The school dic-
tionary, a tattered volume, well thumbed by the boys and doubtless
handled often by my father, is now a relic in our family.

Francis Parker was a believer in " the gospel of work." The
country schoolboys of those days, who innocently knew not foot-
ball, baseball, hockey, or any other " sports " as the all-absorbing
occupation of youth, though their games held due place in the
economy of their lives, took their natural part in the work of the
home and of their fathers' occupations. Accordingly, the boy
Daniel, with his brothers, when at home throughout his schoolboy
career, shared the labor of the lumber woods, the quarry and the
shipyard to the best of a schoolboy's time and strength.

In the year 1834, when he was twelve years of age, the boy
was sent to the Collegiate School in connection with King's
College at Windsor; but his stay there was brief, in consequence
of his revolt against the system by which the College students
fagged the Academy boys. He was appropriated as a fag by
a collegian, a man nearly thirty years old and of low character.
For refusing to black this fellow's boots the little fag was soundly
beaten by him and then thrust headlong into a large wood-stove
in one of the class-rooms, with the stove door fastened behind him.
It was late on a winter's afternoon, and the embers of the day's
lire still glowed among a mass of stifling ashes. He contrived
to kick the door out of the stove and to escape to his room, after
the bully had left him to shift for himself. A few minutes
sufficed to pack up his wardrobe and books. With these in a
bundle on his back, the enraged, high-spirited child set out in the
dusk of evening to walk the twenty-five miles to his home. But
as he passed through the college gate he was confronted by
Dr. Porter, the College President, riding in, and who, divining
his intention to run away, asked him where he was going.
Reluctantly he was obliged to tell his story. " Come back with
me," said the angry doctor, and he rode up to the front of the
College, followed by the runaway. Just then, unluckily issued
from a door the object of the President's wrath, the perpetrator
of the. outrage. Leaping, in a passion, from his horse, the doctor,
a large, powerful man, charged him with what he had done, and

90 DANIEL McNEILL pakkek, m.d.

hardly waiting for an answer, administered to the bully, in full
view of College and Academy, a tremendous thrashing with a
heavy dog-whip which he used when riding. The innocent cause
of this disturbance of the scholastic calm of King's was ordered
to return to his studies, but it is easy to understand how by
petty persecution, secretly conducted, this disgrace of a public
flogging endured by a grown man, and for such a reason, was
avenged upon the unwilling cause of it, and why, at the end of the
school year, the youngster who had the spirit to challenge the
fagging system and to persist undaunted in his defiance of it
while he remained at Windsor, was removed from that school
by his father. The late Alfred Haliburton, Sergeant-a't-Arms
of the House of Assembly, a schoolmate, backed my father in this
campaign for liberty, and being a redoubtable pugilist for his age,
more than once thrashed a collegian at Windsor on his behalf.

While there, Daniel used to be a visitor at " Clifton," the
home of Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton, who was then
publishing in the Nova Scotian his famous " Sam Slick "
papers. Francis Parker was an intimate friend of this founder
of the school of American humor. I have a book on " Parish
Law " (published in 1743) which the judge sent by our young
schoolboy as a present to his father in 1835. The book had
belonged to Judge Isaac Deschamps, noted in Provincial history
for the charges of maladministration of law preferred against
him in the year 1778 ; and it had been purchased from him by
W. H. 0. Haliburton, " Sam Slick's " father, who was a judge
of the Court of Common Pleas. The title page bears the auto-
graph of both these former owners.

During his school days at Windsor my father made occasional
visits home, when he would usually walk the whole way, taking
short cuts through the Newport woods. On one of these walks he
encountered a wildcat which disputed his passage; but after
a brief encounter he succeeded in driving off the beast with a
cudgel and came out unhurt. To point a moral, he was wont
to tell how, driving home from Windsor for a vacation with an
Irish servant of his father, he made his first, and last, attempt
at smoking. The Irishman treated him to a cigar which made
him in a few minutes so horribly ill that, as he lay groaning
in the bushes by the road side, expiating the offence against
his stomach, he resolved never to try smoking again; and he
never did.

In the autumn of 1835, or early winter, he went to Horton
Academy, at Wolfville, where he was a student until November,
1837.

The Rev. John Pryor was Principal of the school. In a
letter to one of the Presidents of Acadia College, written in 1899,

EARLY YEARS 91

referring to the old Academy, my father says : " Isaac Chipman,
whose life was so sadly ended in the Basin of Minas, was one
of the Assistants. I became much attached to him, and he was
a valued friend during my sojourn at the Academy, and was one
of my Nova Scotia correspondents at a later period while I
was pursuing my professional studies at the University of Edin-
burgh. He was a quiet, unassuming Christian man, of marked
ability, and a born naturalist."

Among his school-fellows there were, James Forman, who
became a distinguished engineer; P. C. Hill, for some years
Provincial Secretary and leader of the government; his brother,
George Hill, long rector of St. Paul's, Halifax; John P. Mott
and William J. Stairs, who both attained distinction and wealth
among the merchants of Halifax; Alexander James, who became
Judge-in-Equity of Nova Scotia; and Charles Tupper, distin-
guished in the foremost rank of Canadian statesmen.

We recall the close, affectionate and life-long friendship
between these men and my father, founded upon the strong bond
of school associations and schoolboy experiences. He retained
many other such school-bred friendships with men in humbler
walks of life, and not different in kind or strength.

William B. C. A. Parker, of Crimean fame, whose memory,
conjointly with that of Welsford, is conserved by the monument
in St. Paul's Cemetery at Halifax, was another fellow-student
at Horton Academy.

While at Horton he bore an active part in planting those
now venerable ornamental trees which have since adorned the
grounds of Acadia College. The boys of the Academy (the
College was not yet founded) brought the trees in a scow or
flatboat down the Cornwallis River from points near Kentville.
Some of the fruits of these labors perished in the fire which
destroyed the old College building in 1877, many have been
cut down since in the process of what is thought to be " improve-
ment," but a few yet remain as monuments to the memory of
those Academy boys of William the Fourth's reign. The College
fire consumed the old Academy building, which formed the
central section of the College structure, and the old Academy
boarding-house, in which my father lodged, went down in a later
fire. Both were very familiar to the writer.

Though always of studious habits, my father, while at Horton,
indulged much in his favorite pastimes, shooting and fishing.
Game was then abundant in the vicinity. The late Judge James
and he were usually companions of the order of the gun, and
they kept the Academy larder stocked with the various victims
of their prowess.

The course at Horton closed his academic education, so far

92 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

as schools were concerned, and there he completed the subjects
necessary for matriculation at the University of Edinburgh.
There was no graduation ceremony or granting of degrees in
those days at this school. The testamur closing his studies was
merely this certificate:

" This may certify that the bearer, Daniel Parker, has been
for some length of time a pupil in the Horton Academy. And,
being now about to leave, I have much pleasure in testifying
to the good advancement he has made in his studies, as well as
to his uniformly attentive, obedient, and studious habits and his
correct moral deportment, while under my care.

" Sgd. John Peyok, A.M.,

" Principal Horton Academy.
" November, 1837."

The reader familiar with the history of the old Granville
Street Baptist Church, Halifax, and Daniel Parker's share
in it, may find something pathetic in this certificate.

The choice of medicine as a profession seems to have been
made during the course of study at Horton, — at an early age,
for he was but fifteen when he left school. That he was more
than ordinarily mature for his years seems probable. But youth
seems to have ripened, as a general thing, more rapidly then
than now, when the distractions surrounding and worked into our
schools of learning too easily tempt the student and retard his
progress toward knowledge and manhood ; when play, degenerated
into " sport," appears too often to usurp the place of first import-
ance and threatens the reversal of the old adage into the form:
" All play and no work makes Jack a dull boy."

Two months or more were now spent at home, after which,
early in the year 1838, medical studies were begun in Halifax with
Dr. William Bruce Almon, a man distinguished in the profession.
Pharmacy occupied much of the junior student's time in those
days, and it was acquired practically in the drug store; for
every physician was then his own apothecary. Dr. Almon's shop,
with his offices attached, was located about midway in that block
on the north side of Duke Street which extends from Water
Street to Hollis Street, — a little east of the present Acadia Sugar
Refinery office. The articles by which my father was bound or
apprenticed to Dr. Almon are here given. The document will
not be without interest to anyone for whom the Provincial his-
tory of medical education, with its changed customs, has attrac-
tions ; and certainly the quaint and now obsolete terms of his
apprenticeship must interest the descendants of the boy of fifteen
who by this instrument became wedded, as it were, to the pro-
fession of his choice.

EAKLY YEARS 93

" Indenture of Apprenticeship.

" This indenture made the ninth day of February, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, between
Daniel McNeill Parker, the son of Francis Parker, of Walton,
in the County of Hants, and Province of Nova Scotia, Esquire,
which said Daniel McNeill Parker is an infant of the age of
fifteen years of the first part, William Bruce Almon, of Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Doctor of Medicine, of the second part, and the
said Francis Parker, of the third part, witnesseth that the said
Daniel McNeill Parker at the desire and with the consent and
approbation of the said Francis Parker hath and by these presents
doth put himself apprentice to the said William Bruce Almon,
to learn the science profession and practice of a physician, and
the art and mystery of a surgeon, and the trade and business
of an apothecary and druggist, and with him after the manner
of such an apprentice to remain, continue and serve, from the
day of the date of these presents for, and until the full end and
term of four years thence ensuing and fully to be complete and
ended.

" And the said Daniel McNeill Parker on his behalf, and
the said Francis Parker in consideration of the promises herein
contained, for himself his executors and administrators, do
severally covenant and promise to and with the said William
Bruce Almon, his executors and administrators, that during all the
term aforesaid the said Daniel McNeill Parker his said master
faithfully shall serve after the manner of such an apprentice,
his secrets conceal, his lawful and reasonable commands, every-
where, readily perform and obey, that? his said master's goods or
estate of any kind he shall not waste, embezzle, purloin or lend
unto others and will not suffer to be wasted, embezzled, pur-
loined or lent unto others without giving notice thereof to his
said master. That he shall not frequent taverns or ale-houses
or play at any unlawful games or contract matrimony with any
person during the said term, whereby or by means of any of the
said matters his said master shall or may sustain any damage,
loss or injury, that he shall not at any time by day or night
absent himself or depart from his said master's service without
his leave, but in all things as a good and faithful apprentice
shall and will behave and demean himself to his said master
during all the said term. And the said Francis Parker for him-
self doth further covenant and promise that during the whole
of the said term he will find and provide for the said Daniel
McNeill Parker suitabfe board, lodging and apparel, will pay
all rates, taxes and assessments made upon him, and will well
and truly pay or cause to be paid to the said William Bruce
Almon the full and just sum of one hundred pounds as an

94 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

apprentice fee for the instruction which is hereinafter covenanted
and agreed to be given to the said Daniel McNeill Parker. And
the said William Bruce Almon for himself, his heirs, executors
and administrators does covenant, promise and agree to and with
the said Daniel McNeill Parker separately and also with the said
Erancis Parker, his executors and administrators, that he, the
said William Bruce Almon, shall and will during the said term,
to the best of his power and ability, teach and instruct or
cause to be taught or instructed the said Daniel McNeill Parker in
the science profession and practice of a physician, and the art
and mystery of a surgeon, and the trade and business of an
apothecary and druggist within the Township of Halifax, accord-
ing to the manner in which he, the said William Bruce Almon,
now or hereafter during the said term does or shall practice, user
or carry on the said science, art and business aforesaid, and as
fully and effectually as the said term of four years and the means
afforded or to be obtained within the said Township will permit
or allow the said Daniel McNeill Parker to be instructed in the
science, art and business aforesaid.

" In witness whereof the parties to these presents have here-
unto their hands and seals subscribed and set on the day and
year first above written.

" Signed,, Sealed and Delivered

" in the presence of

" (Sgd.) J. W. Nutting.

" Sgd. Daniel McNeill Parker (L.S.).

" " Francis Parker (L.S.).

" " William Bruce Almon, M.D. (L.S.).

" It is understood and agreed that the said Daniel McNeill
Parker shall at the end of three years with his father's consent
have the option of ending his apprenticeship in order to complete
his professional education.

" Sgd. William Bruce Almon, M.D."

In Halifax the young apprentice, for the most part, made his
home with his great-uncle, James W. Nutting, who lived at

95 Hollis Street, where the Nova Scotia Building Society is
now located, and for a time he boarded in the old house on Bedford
Row since occupied for offices by the law firms in which Chief
Justice McDonald, Judges Rigby, Meagher and Drysdale, and
their successors, were members. It came about that I began
the study of my profession in the latter building, and for a time
I occupied as an office the room in which my father slept at
95 Hollis Street when a boy. This room, strangely enough,

EARLY YEARS 95

became his private office in 1882, while I was studying in what
had been the other bedroom of his boyhood, on Bedford Row.

The personal charm and character of Mr. Nutting, his fatherly
solicitude and his instructive powers of conversation, taken
together with the influences of the Nutting home, were forces
which contributed to mould the character and form the mind of
my father. They left indelible impressions for good upon him.
He loved and revered this scholarly, polished, old school gentle-
man and devout, God-fearing man as a second father. In public
addresses, as in private discourse, I have known him many times
to quote the sayings of Mr. Nutting and to impress upon his
hearers some truth or lesson drawn from the life of his great-
uncle, who indeed was a remarkable man.

When Captain Marryat, the novelist par excellence of the
navy and the sea, was much in Halifax as midshipman and
junior officer, he and Mr. Nutting, then a student-at-law, were
on terms of intimacy, and Marryat, when on shore leave, shared
the other's lodgings. From Mr. Nutting my father received
many amusing stories of Marryat's youthful days, which tales,
together with incidents of Mr. Nutting's association with the
author, kindled an interest in the Captain's writings which was
never extinguished. When he was nearing his eightieth year I
found him one day deeply engrossed in " Newton Forster," though
little given to reading fiction since the times when Dickens and
Thackeray, and even Scott, were new and read by everybody.

Dr. Almon seems to have had only the one apprentice at the
period now under review, but associated with him in the Duke
Street apothecary shop were the late William A. Hendry, who
became well known as a Crown Land Surveyor in after life,
and a little negro boy, singularly named Dan Parker, who
carried out the medicines and performed the menial offices of the
establishment. This ebony namesake will appear again in the
story.

From the reminiscences of those first years of medical study
I select one, illustrative of examinations for admission to practice
seventy years ago in Nova Scotia. The first Medical Act in the
history of the Province, that of 1828, entitled " An Act to exclude
ignorant and unskilful persons from the practice of Physic and
Surgery," was then in force, under which a Licensing Board,
appointed by the Governor in Council, conducted these examina-
tions. This was the system until 1856. The last members of
this old-time Board were Drs. Edward Jennings, William J.
Almon, and my father. Dr. W. B. Almon with two or three other
senior medical men now conducted the examinations, in his office.
They were altogether oral, and my father sometimes was
privileged to listen to them, for his instruction. There were

96 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

empirics, young and old, among the candidates; for the efficient
Statutes of the Province regulating matters relating to the pro-
fession were of later date and registration was as yet unknown.

One evening there presented himself for examination a middle-
aged Irishman, not long off " the sod," who had been professing
to act as a doctor in one of the central counties, and had been
summoned to Halifax to show his qualifications. His answers
to elementary questions showed that he knew nothing of any
medical or surgical subject, but his quick wit and powers of
repartee repaid the amused and quizzical doctors for spending the
evening in a; species of professional farce. They drew from the
candidate many novelties in the practice of physic, and some
discoveries in anatomy that would astound even a twentieth
century surgeon. But his piece de resistance was that he, of all
mankind, possessed the knowledge of a certain hair on the human
head which, if pulled, would lift the palate; and he claimed that
this discovery of his was so important to the profession and to
suffering humanity at large as to entitle him to a license, by way
of reward. He had a great shock of hair himself, brilliantly red,
and one examiner gravely requested that he select from his own
abundance the hair required and demonstrate the discovery for
which medical science had long been waiting. " Ah, gintlemen,"
said he, " that wud be tellin ! " This saying of the Irishman
was often used by my father to illustrate that species of quackery
which professes the discovery of medical remedies, but declines
to divulge the formulas, or ingredients, to the profession and
the public.

Beside being health officer of the port, Dr. Almon was the
medical and surgical officer of the poor-house and gaol, and
his apprentice would attend on him at these institutions for
clinics.* There was no other hospital. Beginning with dentistry
(tooth-pulling) and the letting of blood — the old school panacea —
he soon began to try his 'prentice hand generally, in physic and
simple surgery, by way of practice on the paupers and the gaol
population, who were thought fair game for students. In his
second year of study he was practically in charge there, as
medical attendant. He too briefly refers to his experiences
there in his reply to the address presented by the profession on
his retirement in 1895.

When leaving the poor-house one day with his master, an
attempt was made on the latter's life by a demented man who
cherished a grudge against Dr. Almon for some fancied injury.

* The poor house was on the north side of Spring Garden Road, a
little to the eastward of the site of the present Baptist church. The
gaol, or bridewell, as it was called, stood about where the Baptist vestry
now is and opposite the old theatre.

EARLY YEARS 97

The would-be assassin fired a pistol at the doctor, but another
person at that instant, while coming out of the door, roughly jostled
the doctor and stepped in front of him, just in time to receive
the bullet. This individual paid for his incivility by being badly
wounded ; but he recovered.

The term of apprenticeship to Dr. Almon was prematurely
ended by his death after two years' and four months' service
had been performed. By this time the apprentice had become
so necessary to the business of the drug store that the doctor's
widow and family pressed him to remain and carry it on for a
year or so, until the son William J. Almon (afterwards Dr.
Almon, the Senator), who was then completing his medical
studies at Edinburgh, should return to take up his father's practice.
To this earnest request he yielded, and beside successfully con-
tinuing the business (receiving one-fourth of the profits) he
proved his capacity further by adjusting the books and realizing
the credits of his late master's estate for the family. While con-
ducting the drug store on his own responsibility he lodged around
the corner on Water Street, in an attic room overlooking Black's
wharf. This lodging-house, save for the present grog shop below,
remains as it then was.

In the summer of 1841, upon the return of Dr. William J.
Almon, who had then obtained his degree, he severed relations
with the Almons and returned home to study, chiefly by way of
review for his matriculation at the University of Edinburgh.
But he had worked so assiduously at Halifax that his health had
become affected, and he was threatened by a weakness of the
chest; so, under medical advice, most of the winter of 1841-2 was
spent in the West Indies. He sailed from Halifax in a brigantine
for Bermuda, after Christmas.

An incident of the /voyage was the capture of a large man-
eating shark, which he hooked, unintentionally, while amusing
himself fishing for a porpoise during a tedious calm. A quick
hitch of the line on a belaying pin, and the boy fisherman's
presence of mind barely saved him from going overboard. Then
followed a fight between all hands and the shark. After a long
struggle, the line which held the monster was passed through a
block aloft, a noose on another was slipped over the thrashing
tail, this line also rove aloft, and with all the crew on the falls
of both tackle, the shark was laboriously hoisted on board between
the masts and lowered to the deck, where he was despatched with
firearms and axes; but not without difficulty, for he was of
immense bulk and his convulsive struggles about the deck made
close approach dangerous. The student passenger now performed
his first post mortem, and in the course of his examination he
took from the stomach of his subject several knives, forks, spoons,

98 DANIEL McNEILL pakkek, m.d.

a tin plate or two and some smaller miscellany, swallowed, no
doubt, among refuse food thrown from vessels which this scavenger
of the sea had followed in the course of his business.

In trying to make the harbor of Hamilton, Bermuda, the
brigantine went ashore on a reef. The weather was calm, and,
as the tide was low, the captain anticipated no difficulty in
getting off at high water. But soon several boats, swarming with
negroes, appeared. The captain, familiar with the island, recog-
nized these visitors as belonging to a dangerous class of wreckers
or land-pirates, formerly slaves, who, freed by British law a
few years before, had become a menace to shipping and to the
lives of seamen becalmed near the coast or becoming wrecked
upon it. The blacks offered, politely enough, to come aboard and
render assistance. But, forewarned by the experience of ship-
masters who had suffered by this little by-product of the " Eman-
cipation Act," the Nova Scotia master was fore-armed, and
literally. When the leading boat had ranged alongside and the
negroes made a show of coming aboard, willy-nilly, a dozen
muskets suddenly rose over the bulwarks and looked the scoundrels
in the eyes, and the captain threatened to fire if they touched the
vessel's side. It was enough. The boats were scurrying to a
more respectful distance when the captain recognized an elderly
negro whom he had known to act as a pilot, and he ordered him
to come on board, or he would fire on his boat. The order was
obeyed, but the boat was kept covered by the muskets until it
drew off again. The captain then very seriously and emphatic-
ally gave this old rascal to understand that he was to pilot the
vessel in at high water and that if she touched ground on the
way he would be shot. They got off the reef, without damage,
in the afternoon. With a fair wind, the terrified ex-pilot took
them safely into harbor, having his memory and other faculties
mildly stimulated by an occasional application of the captain's
pistol in the region of the short ribs, and by exhortations in the
language pertaining to the sea, with which the passenger did
not charge his memory^

After a short stay in Bermuda the young voyager sailed to
Jamaica, where most of the winter was spent. Obtaining a
chance passage thither in a British transport carrying troops,
he spent part of his time in the island of Nevis. There he lodged
in the house in which Nelson was married thirty-four years before,
Prince William Henry, afterwards William the Fourth, giving
away the bride. My father was wont to indulge a little in hero-
worship, in Carlyle's sense of the term. Who that is a man does
not ? This house in Nevis, because it had been much fre-
quented by Nelson, seemed to him, even in later years, a minor
shrine to the memory of one of his few heroes, and the quarter-

EAELY YEARS 99

deck, great cabin and the cock-pit of the '"Victory" major ones,
after he had visited that historic ship at a later period. Such was
his pride in the achievements of Nelson and his emotion of
reverence for Nelson's memory that I have known his voice to
tremble and his eyes to fill with tears when, recounting the death
scene at Trafalgar, he would come to the dying hero's request:
" Kiss me, Hardy."

While in the West Indies much of his time was given to
study, and he accomplished much general reading. The residence
there and the sea voyages had removed all apprehensions as to
his health when he returned in the spring of 1842.

He had previously made voyages, during school holidays, to
Portland, Boston and other points on the United States coast.
He was now to cross the Atlantic. Midsummer found him in
Halifax making his preparations for Edinburgh. His father's
capital being tied up in the Walton enterprises, it became neces-
sary to borrow five hundred pounds, sterling, for the completion
of his education. It speaks something for the friendships and
the reputation he had made in Halifax that on applying to Mr.
William C, a young man of independent fortune, to whom he
was well known, the loan was obtained, and a greater amount
pressed upon him, without even the security of a promissory
note which was proffered, satisfactorily endorsed. The security
was laughingly rejected by his friend, who remarked : " Pay me
when you have earned the money, and say nothing more about it."
Nor would he hear anything more about it. In the sequel, the
loan was repaid within two years from the commencement; of
the borrower's practice, with interest; and such was the lender's
esteem for him that upon Mr. C.'s death, some years later, he
appointed his young family physician the guardian of his infant
children, a trust which continued for many years and to the
burden of which was added tragedy, when one of the wards was
murdered by Indians in Colorado.

A Halifax firm of merchants had a ship at Pictou loading
lumber for Glasgow, and a passage was procured. No floating
hotels in the shape of steamships had then reduced the Atlantic
voyage to a trifle for trippers. It is true the Cunard line had
now for two years been running their four pioneer paddle-wheel
steamers, known as " mail packets," on the round route from Liver-
pool to Halifax, thence to Boston and back to Liverpool, but this
novelty was a luxury for the rich. The voyages, too, could not be
termed speedy. No railway existed in Nova Scotia. Pictou was
two- days distant from Halifax, by coach. The medical students
who crossed to the Old Country for their education remained there
three years, the time required for their degree. Vacations were
shorter than now, and if they had been longer, this particular

100 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

student could have afforded neither the time nor the means for
enjoying them at home. So, coaching it to Pictou, he embarked
upon his three years' exile.

The ship sailed late in July. There was only one other
passenger. The voyage was very stormy, with head winds,
and the heavily-laden ship made bad weather of it and slow time.
Off the west coast of Ireland a gale was encountered. The vessel
lost several spars and sails, her upper works were badly damaged,
and the rudder was carried away. With much difficulty she was
brought, leaking, into an Irish bay, where temporary repairs
had to be made. The long voyage and this mishap delayed the
student so that he did not reach Edinburgh until about the end
of October.

The matriculation examinations were passed successfully,
and the hard grind of three years at the University and the
Royal College of Surgeons was begun. In the following letter to
Charles Martyr Nutting, written from his first lodging-place in
Edinburgh, the student speaks for himself of his new work and
manner of life as well as of his first impressions in that city which
afterwards he came to love. This is the earliest of his letters
which can be found, written when he was twenty years of age.
One detects in its style a rather unusual maturity of mind for
that age. The warm interest in the things of home, and in old
friends, is characteristic of all periods of his life.

f " Wilson's Lodgings,, 19 Salisbuey Street,

"Edinburgh, January 2nd, 1843.
" My dear Martyr :

" Many thanks for the short epistle, and newspapers received by
the two last Packets. I had been nearly two months in Scotland
without receiving a single line from home, and was quite rejoiced
at the sight of your letter and those that accompanied it. Your
handwriting is so much improved that I did not know it and could
hardly believe my eyes when I saw the signature.

" The war between the Christian Messenger and the Honorable
Joseph has been raging, I perceive, to a very great extent. I have
seen the whole correspondence, as Tupper takes the Messenger.
It will have the effect of opening the eyes of the Baptists of Nova
Scotia as, to the real character of the worthy exciseman. It must
be very annoying to your father as one of the editors of the paper
to have his name brought before the public in such a manner.

" I was rather surprised to hear of Miss Almon's marriage.
Of course I expected that it was to take place, but did not think
it would be so soon. The letter you spoke of was from the bride
herself. It was a very kind one, giving me a short account of the
wedding, etc.

EAKLY YEARS 101

" I am extremely sorry to hear that Miss Ella has been obliged
to leave the Province, and hope shortly to hear more favourable
accounts of her health. The news contained in my father's letter
was very satisfactory. He had just gained a lawsuit for rather a
large amount, of which he felt somewhat doubtful when I was
with them in Walton. On Friday, the 30th, his second came
to hand. They were all well, at its date, the weather was cold
and they had more than two feet of snow on the ground. How
very different from this climate. Here we have had no ice as yet,
the fields are quite green, and since my arrival there has not been
one day cold enough to make an overcoat necessary.

" I am glad to hear that Annand is doing well in my old place
of business; did not know before that he was a married man.
D. Parker Junr was discharged before I left the Province.

" I am now very comfortably situated, and have commenced

my studies in good earnest. It will have to be all hard work and

no play with me while the Session lasts. I have a neat little

parlour and small bedroom with very good furniture, one piece

of which is a piano. Not being at all musical, as you are aware,

it has been converted into a sideboard. Living entirely by myself

was so very different from what I have been accustomed to, that I

was very lonesome at the change until a Portuguese friend from

Madeira called Da Costa proposed that I should live with him.

He has been here more than a year, but in order to get a better

knowledge of the language, lived for the first twelve months in

a gentleman's family (a son-in-law of Mr. Innes, the Baptist

minister to whom your father introduced me) after which he

went to lodgings, and like myself was not at all pleased with the

change. He was very desirous that I should go with him, but as

he was paying nearly a pound per week for his room, I told him

that I could not afford it. He then said that as money was

not so much an object to him he would be very glad if I would

go, and pay only a proportion of the living. Not wishing to place

myself under an obligation to a person that I had only known for a

few days, I refused, but told him, if he felt inclined, he could

join me in my lodgings. He at first said they were entirely

too small and, as I thought, had given up all idea of coming,

but after some time told me that he could not live alone any

longer, so we are now together. He is a very good fellow, well

informed and musical. He plays the guitar, flute and piano,

all remarkably well. If I had time to spare he would teach me

the French language. Before he came I was paying 6s.. 6d. st'g.

for my rooms. Now my proportion is but 4s. 6d. I am living

very economically. How long Da Costa will continue to like it

I cannot tell. The difference in his lodging bill alone will be over

£30 st'g. per annum. We breakfast at nine o'clock and dine

102 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

at four, the intermediate time being occupied in attending classes
and dissecting. On the 24th our Christmas recess commenced,
which ends on the 3rd January, to-morrow. Last year I spent
a much happier Christmas than this has been, although my
friends are very attentive and kind. Still, I am not in Nova
Scotia. It is not observed at all in Edinburgh. Had it not been
on Sunday, the business of the city would have gone on as usual.
I dined on that day with Mr. Hunter Peters, the son of the
Attorney-General of New Brunswick, who will pass and go to
America in August next. A few evenings since I had a small
party of six Nova Scotia students at tea. One was Dr. Gordon,
of Pictou, who is married and in practice here. Another was
James Forman, our old schoolfellow, who is learning to be a civil
engineer in Glasgow, and came over to spend a few days with his
countrymen. The remainder were medical students. The enter-
tainment was, of course, a primitive one. I meet a large dinner
party at an English student's rooms this evening, which, as the
classes commence to-morrow, will wind up my gaiety until the
end of the Session, for I find that parties and studies cannot,
with me, walk hand in hand.

" I am much pleased with Edinburgh, both as a medical school
and a place of residence, but have seen very little of it as yet.
Knowing that I have three years to remain I am taking it easy
and intend seeing it by degrees.

" There are yet seven months to come before the end of the ses-
sion, at which time I intend visiting the Highlands, having received
a very kind invitation from Dr. Gray, formerly of Fredericton,
N.B., now of Inverness, to whom I had a letter of introduction
from Mrs. Almon. Mr. Johnston gave me a letter to Dr. Duncan,
of Dumfries, who invited me to spend the Christmas recess with
him, but as it would have interfered with my studies and dis-
secting I did not go. Will you ask your father to remember
me to Mr. J. and thank him in my name for that, as well as the
other letters he was kind enough to give me.

" I perceive by the papers that the Gas Works are progressing.
Should I arrive in Halifax at night three years hence I'm afraid
it will trouble me to recognize it. I burn gas in my room, and
am so much pleased with it, that I would rather pay double than
be without it.

" Remember me to Monk and give him my address, tell him
to write. I would commence the correspondence but have to pay
my debts by this Packet, which will take all my spare time. Will
you tell . Dr. Almon that I have entirely forgotten the name of
the paper he wished me to send him, but if he tells you, please
mention it in your next. Tell him I am much obliged for the
Times papers received by the two last steamers. In future he can

EARLY YEARS 103

direct them to 19 Salisbury Street. You can also mention when
you see him that Bothwick and Cutler and Kemp the Chemist are
dead, and that Hilliard is now the best surgical instrument maker
in Edinburgh.

" Shortly after my arrival I breakfasted with Mr. Innes.
I attend his church in the morning and an Episcopal one in the
afternoon.

" When you write, which must be soon, do not be afraid of
making the letter too long. Many things that you perhaps may
think too trifling to mention will, no doubt, interest me very
much. If you cannot fill a sheet of paper make that lazy fellow
Ned add something

" Please remember me to the Almons, Twinings, Fergusons,
Binneys, Lawsons, (do not forget Mary) Miss Hutchinson, Mrs.
John Johnston, etc., etc. Those persons that you are not likely
to see, tell Mary Ann that I will thank her to act for you in
remembering me to them.

" I enclose this in my father's letter as the paper is so thin that
the two weigh less than !/2 oz-> consequently the postage will be
the same for hpth as one.

" When mentioning the Honorable Joseph in the first of this
letter I forgot to state that my opinion of him exactly coincides
with your own. Please direct to me in future as at the head
of the letter.

" I hope your grandmother enjoys good health this winter.
Give my love to her, your father and all the family, also to Sophia
and Letty.

" Excuse haste, my dear Martyr,

" And believe me to be,
" Your affectionate cousin,

" (Sgd.) D. McN. Pakkee,"

A word of explanation as to some persons named in this letter
will assist some readers to a better understanding of it.

" The Honorable Joseph " is Joe Howe, the Nova Scotia
Tribune of the Plebs. " Tupper " is Charles Tupper, Howe's
redoubtable antagonist in Nova Scotia politics, in days to come.
He had preceded my father by a year, at Edinburgh. " Miss
Almon " is a daughter of Dr. William Bruce Almon. " Annand "
is a medical student. " D. Parker, Jun'r " is the negro boy
who has been before mentioned. " James Forman " (junior)
became chief engineer of the first public railroad built in Nova
Scotia, and afterwards a consulting engineer in Glasgow.
" Monk " is a brilliant young Halifax lawyer, who did not live
to fulfil the promise of his youth. He was a son of Judge Monk,

104 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

of the Supreme Court. " Mr. Johnston " is James W. Johnston,
the future statesman and distinguished Judge-in-Equity. " Ned "
is Martyr's brother. " Mary Ann," " Sophia " and " Letty " are
three daughters of my father's favorite " Aunt Grant," a sister of
James W. Nutting and wife of Michael Bergen Grant, who was
the son of Captain Robert Grant, of Loyal Hill. These three
girls and the children of Mr. Nutting were second cousins of my
father.

Martyr's " grandmother " is Mrs. Maclean, his mother's
mother, a lady of about eighty at that time. The mention of the
well-known Halifax families to whom the writer desires to be
remembered indicates some of his early friendships and the homes
which he used to frequent during his term of study in that city.

When he penned the casual reference to the introduction of
gas at Halifax the young letter-writer little dreamed that for many
years in the dim future he would be a valued director of that
enterprise.

What was the youthful Tory's opinion of Howe, hinted at in
this letter, requires no speculation.

There is a story of Da Costa, who is described in this letter,
which, with a slightly different ending, might have affected the
political history of Nova Scotia and of Canada by causing it to
be written without the name and achievements of him who is now
The Right Honorable Sir Charles Tupper, Baronet. Some time
after the date of this letter he joined the student lodgers at 19
Salisbury Street. Da Costa spoke English very imperfectly and
was exceedingly sensitive about his mistakes. He was, moreover,
of a fiery, passionate temperament, native to his blood, and of a
jealous, revengeful disposition. He resented the intimacy between
Tupper and my father, but more the ridicule which the former
habitually cast upon his ludicrous blunders in English by repeating
them in his presence for the benefit of the other students, and with
no small powers of mimicry.

One evening my father was at work in the study which he and
the Portuguese occupied in common, when Da Costa rushed in,
boiling with passion, and tore open a bureau drawer in which, as
my father knew, he always kept a loaded pistol, after his kind. He
had complained bitterly to his room-mate that day of the indig-
nities put upon him by Tupper, and had been by turns moody and
excited ; therefore when Da Costa, livid with rage, and muttering
Portuguese imprecations, rushed from the room, pistol in hand,
my father sprang to the door after him and was at his heels when
he entered the room where Tupper was seated at a table with his
books. The pistol was levelled at Tupper's head when my father
sprang over the assassin's shoulders and seized the weapon by the
barrel. Almost at the same instant Tupper, roused by a warning

EARLY YEARS 105

call, cleared the table at a bound and grappled with the man. The
three went down together in a fierce struggle. My father wrested
the pistol from Da Costa's grip, while Tupper choked him into sub-
mission. The latter made the amende honorable for his conduct
which, unwittingly, had brought about this scene ; the Portuguese,
now thoroughly ashamed, was satisfied, and my father locked up
the pistol in his trunk. Next day, domestic relations with Da
Costa were severed, and he quit the lodgings. But his strong
affection for my father, which had led him to share the humble
quarters on Salisbury Street in preference to living in the style
to which he was accustomed, remained unaffected, and the friend-
ship between them lasted as long as they were fellow-students.

A picture at ' " Beechwood " is connected with an incident
which occurred at these lodgings. I refer to an oil painting, the
central feature of which is an ancient mill on a Highland stream.

Upon the floor above the student quarters there resided a young
artist and his wife. He was the son of another Scottish artist,
who had attained celebrity throughout Britain, and he himself
was winning some distinction ; but he was now falling into dissi-
pated habits, and intemperance was threatening the ruin of his
career. One day my father heard* an unusual uproar overhead
and the violent screaming of a woman. He rushed upstairs and
found the young artist, crazed with drink, cruelly beating his wife.
Under the impulse of the moment the medical student saw no other
remedy for the situation but a punitive one, for he was himself
savagely attacked for his interference ; so he administered to the
husband a sound thrashing. This so far restored him to his
senses as to make him conscious of what he had been doing. He
was a gentleman, and the sudden knowledge that he had struck a
woman, and that woman his wife, of whom he was very fond,
while it further sobered the man, filled him instantly with deep
shame and contrition. The medical student used the opportunity
to follow the physical remedy with wholesome, kindly counsel and
the offer of his friendship, both of which were well received by
the other, who gave a remorseful promise of amendment then and
there. They had never met before, but from that day became
fast friends. The promise was kept, the artist's work prospered,
and the young couple of the upper floor entered upon a new and
uninterrupted happiness. Grateful appreciation on the part of
husband and wife ripened, upon further acquaintance, into a warm
admiration for the student and a devotion to his welfare and com-
fort. Ere the latter left Edinburgh the artist took him into his
studio, hung with many specimens of his art, and begged that his
friend, to whom he confessed that he owed both happiness and
prosperity, would select what pictures he might fancy and accept
them in token of gratitude and affection. As might be expected,

106 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

despite the protests of the painter and much urging on his part,
the student selected only one — the smallest of the collection.

When he lay in the " Beechwood " parlor, forever silent, and
ready for the tomb, some sixty-three years afterwards, this little
painting looked down upon its owner in silent testimony to a
service and an influence by which, when but a boy, he had been
the instrument of saving two young lives from degradation and
sorrow to prosperity and joy.

Later in his course my father lodged on Rankeillor Street ;
but there were too many medicals there whose nocturnal habits
and boisterous conduct were incompatible with serious study by
their neighbors. This street was pre-eminently a medical student
quarter. The gentry of that ilk dominated its life and contested
with the police the title to its proprietorship. They regulated its
customs and fashions, even in such minute details as permitting
no Rankeillor Street cat to wear more than one inch of tail. The
ambitious Nova Scotian, who was there to work to the best of his
time and ability, burdened, too, with the extra duty of clinical
clerkships to Sir Robert Christison and Sir James Y. Simpson
in the Royal Infirmary, thought it advisable now to abandon the
customary student quarter altogether, and as his health was feeling
the effect of too close application, he removed out of town to the
little hamlet of Duddingstone, by the loch of that name. The
daily walk by way of the Queen's Park afforded fresh air and
exercise, of which he had been depriving himself too long, and the
change proved beneficial for work and for health alike.

In 1871 he showed to his children the rooms which he had
occupied in these various lodging-places, and I well remember
his pleasure in revisiting them.

The friendship with Charles Tupper which had been con-
tracted at Horton Academy was further cemented by the two years
which they passed together in Edinburgh. His friend graduated
in 1844. Their Sunday excursions into the delightful surround-
ings of the city, teeming with historical associations, were often
recalled by my father with delight. That such rambles were not
in accord with the Scottish Sabbatarianism of the period he used
to illustrate by telling how, when swinging down the High Street
one fine Sunday afternoon, whistling as they went, they were
rebuked by a small boy who, gazing at them open-mouthed,
exclaimed, "What! whustlin' on the Sawbuth!"

His own career there was not marked by striking incident for
story-telling, for he adhered most strictly to the routine of work,
and in after days could never say with Justice Shallow, anciently
of Clement's-Inn : " O, the mad days that I have spent !" But
he had a fund of anecdote concerning his contemporaries who
walked less rigidly in the narrow way of serious study. How

EARLY YEARS 107

some of them set Edinburgh in an uproar by robbing churchyards
for dissecting purposes when the supply of material from legiti-
mate sources fell short ; how others desecrated a royal tomb, which
he once pointed out to me in Holyrood Abbey, to procure some
specimens for osteological uses, but could get only one whicH a rat
had carried out from the depositary too strong for them, — and
other stories both gruesome and amusing, — it would be going
beyond the record to set out in these pages.

Some of his vacation or recess time was occupied with the
special work in the Royal Infirmary, already alluded to. One
summer recess was spent in recuperation at Rothesay, on the Isle
of Bute, in delightful travel among the western isles, the original
homes of his McNeill ancestors, and in the Highlands. This was
done under medical advice, because of overwork. But he read
much while he rested or supposed himself to be resting. Appli-
cation to professional study had become a passion with him. That
it was so always, and how hard a thing it was for him to rest and
do nothing, even in periods supposed to be devoted by him to
recreation, we of his family can bear testimony. The dolce far
niente was an art he could never acquire.

Through the quality of his work at Edinburgh he attracted
the personal attention of Professors Simpson, Christison, Miller,
and others of his teachers. Sir James Y. Simpson was particu-
larly kind to him in a social way, and he was a frequent visitor
at the home of this great man and greatly beloved physician.
The friendship with the father descended, as it were, to the
nephew, who likewise became a celebrated professor of the Uni-
versity. Entertaining at breakfasts was then a feature of Edin-
burgh social life, and my father was wont to meet at breakfast in
the Simpson home, and other like homes, with many celebrated
men. It was through the introduction of Sir James that he made
the acquaintance of the venerable Dr. Thomas Chalmers and
became a guest at his house, where on one or more occasions he
met at breakfast distinguished Scottish divines and other celebri-
ties of the day. It was his rare privilege to witness the culmin-
ating scene of the Disruption in the Established Church of Scot-
land, in ^November, 1843, when the kingly Chalmers led out the
solemn, heart-stirring procession of seceding clergy. For Dr.
Chalmers, as the outcome of personal intercourse with him, he
cherished the strongest reverence and veneration, as for a prophet.

At Edinburgh, as before at Halifax, this medical student, at
the irnlpressionable period of his life, was fortunate in the social
circles where he moved. His natural endowments of personal
grace and charm of manner were no doubt cultivated and enhanced
by early and close association with that culture and refinement
which pertained to the friends of those early years and to the

108 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

homes amid which his lot in society had been cast. Doubtless,
likewise, such youthful association with men of large calibre and
elevated types of character, while stimulating his native ambition,
contributed to form his mind, to enlarge his conceptions and to
mould his character.

An illustration of the progress of surgery since the early
forties, and another of examination methods in the University
at that period (happily of an exceptional character), and we must
pass with him from the years of preparation to those of his pro-
fessional career.

Discussing the vermiform appendix and the clangers incident
to its situation, a very learned and distinguished surgeon on the
staff of the Royal College, in a lecture to my father's class, raised
the question of abdominal surgery, a thing that had not been
attempted, and he said with much emphasis : " Gentlemen, any
surgeon who would attempt to open the abdomen should be indicted
for manslaughter." The attempt, it was then taught, could result
only in death. The appendix itself was jocularly disposed of by
the lecturer as an inexplicable anatomical curiosity, with a possible
Malthusian function for maintaining the death rate, with the
natural assistance of cherry-pips and the like. Long before the
fashionable operation for " appendicitis " had become a newspaper
joke my father used to quote the dictum of his professor with
merriment.

The Professor of Botany at the University was a quaint and
elderly savant of the species that would now be classed by the
always irreverent student as " cranks." His hobby was to conduct
his classes on botanizing tramps through the country on Saturdays
— when there were no lectures — for what he was pleased to call
practical work ; and any student who cut these expeditions incurred
his sore displeasure. My father was one of the offenders against
the hobby, and habitually so, for the benefit of what he deemed
more serious work. When he presented himself in July, 1845, for
his degree examination in Botany, an altogether oral test, and was
called in his turn to the examination chamber, he saw the old pro-
fessor consult two lists of names, and he surmised that he was
marked for severe treatment. But he was not prepared for what
followed : " Well, Mr. Parker, what flora do you find in the glen

on the farther side of Loch , on the Fenlenick road ?" " I

cannot say, sir; I was never there," was the hopeless answer.
" That will do, Mr. Parker," and the student left the room know-
ing he was plucked. But the same spirit that was in the school-
boy who resisted the fagging system at Windsor was roused in the
man of twenty-three by this absurdity of injustice, and he prepared
to fight. He waited until the pass-lists were posted. He stood
well up on all save in Botany, and there his name was absent.

EARLY YEARS 109

Then he called on various members of the Medical Faculty, by
all of whom he was esteemed as a student of unusual parts and
industry, and to them he stated his case. They took the matter up
and it was put before the Senate. Summoned to appear before a
committee of that august body, he was asked to relate his examina-
tion experience in Botany, and to explain why he had cut out the
Saturday excursions, which, it must be stated, were not obligatory
upon students. The committee had his record and the testimony
of his other professors before them. The idiosyncrasy of the
examiner was well known, so much so that it was not thought
necessary to consult him; but he had not hitherto carried it to
this serious • and vindictive extremity. The plucked student was
then asked : " Have you done the practical work in the Botanical
Gardens required ?" " I have," he answered, " and I am prepared
to be examined on that and the lectures, at a moment's notice."
" Well, sir, you are passed," said the chairman, after consulting
his colleagues. The committee was so seized by the humorous
aspect of the case that they concluded it with a joke on the Pro-
fessor of Botany himself. His pass-list was sent for, and then and
there the name of " Daniel McNeill Parker " was added to it, by
a sort of pious fraud; after which it was re-posted. It does not
appear whether the old botanical gentleman ever heard of this
summary procedure to right the wrong he had worked; but the
incident had some bearing upon his retirement from the Faculty
not long afterwards. Though the rejected student of Botany
could join in the humor of his judges when they disposed of his
case, it had been no fun for him previously ; for, had he not
obtained this redress he would have lost his degree and been obliged
to go up for another degree examination a full year later.

He received in July the diploma of L.R.C.S.E. from the Royal
College of Surgeons, and on the first day of August (1845) the
degree of M.D. from the University.

NOMINA EORUM

QUI

GKADUM MEDICINAE DOCTOKIS

ACADEMIA JACOBI SEXTI REGIS, QUAE EDINBURGI EST

ANNO MDCCCXLV, ADEPTI SUNT.

A printed copy of the M.D. pass-list for 1845 with this son-
orous caption lies before me. Seventy-nine names appear upon
it, arranged in alphabetic order, with the title of each graduate
doctor's thesis set opposite his name and country. England,
Scotland, Ireland, Wales, the Isles of Man and Anglesey, Nova
Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Bermuda, Barbadoes, India, Prussia and

110 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Russia are represented here. " Parker, , Daniel McNeill, Nova
Scotia, On the Mechanism and Management of Parturition," form
two lines in this catalogue of youth's achievement, hope and prom-
ise. There was one other Nova Scotian, James Allen. One reads
it as a casualty list in life's battle now. " Nomina eorum !" Few
of them there are, in this tenth year of another century, that could
not be found graven upon some monument more enduring, at
least, than this souvenir of my father's graduation, which I dis-
covered among his papers after his spirit had passed on with the
majority of his classmates.

Among these men, some of whom established great professional
reputations, there was no more interesting personality than Wil-
liam Judson Van Someren, who, after many years in the military
medical service, spent principally in India, whence he had come
as a medical student, became the chief of the service in the British
army. He was of the Havelock and Hedley Vicars soldier type,
a spiritually-minded man whose deep-seated religious convictions
and devout life answered to my father's in after years, when the
two veterans, having retired from professional activity, resumed
their correspondence of an earlier time in a series of letters which,
I regret, are not available for production here.

Within a few days after being " capped " Doctor in public
convocation, my father made his first visit to London, where he
completed his supply of books and surgical instruments and also
purchased his stock-in-trade for the opening of an apothecary's
shop in Halifax. Proceeding then to Liverpool, his eager voyage
home was made in a packet of the Cunard Line — his first expe-
rience of steamship travel. Arrived in Halifax, the return to the
Walton home and " Doctor Dan's " reception there, with the plea-
sures of a holiday for much-needed rest, must be left to the
imagination.

Soon there appeared in The Acadian Recorder and The Chris-
tian Messenger the following notification to the public :

" CARD.

" Dr. Parker, graduate of the University, and Licentiate of the
Royal College of Surgeons, of Edinburgh, intends practising Medi-
cine in its various branches, in the city of Halifax, and may be
consulted at his residence, No. 8 Hare's Buildings, near the Pro-
vince Building.

" Drugs and Medicines.

" Dr. P., having procured from London a supply of Drugs, &c,
has opened an establishment at his residence above named, where
he will keep constantly on hand a large assortment of Medicines,
as well as all other articles usually sold at Drug Stores."

CHAPTER IV.

18J>5 to 1861.
" In devotion to duty you have the great secret of life." — Gladstone.

We are not without assistance in attempting to picture, with
its surroundings, the first place of business and residence of the
young doctor of twenty-three, now upon the threshold of life's task
— to " earn his bread and butter " (to borrow a phrase of his) and
to do what good he could in the world while passing through. His
old and valued friend, Dr. T. B. Akins, in his " History of Halifax
City," writing of the year 1821, says: " The old wooden range
known as Cochran's building, which occupied the site of the present
Dominion building, had been only lately vacated by the Legislative
Assemblies and the Courts of Law, and was now being fitted up for
shops. Among those who first occupied shops in this building
were Winkworth Allen, who afterwards went to England, Mr.
David Hare, who afterwards became the purchaser of the property ;
W. A. Mackinlay, on the north side, and Clement H. Belcher, at
the north-west corner, both well-known stationers and booksellers,
occupied their respective shops a long time, the latter for more
than twenty years. At the opposite corner, to the south, on Hollis
Street, stood a large three-story building erected .by the late James
Hamilton, who carried on an extensive dry-goods business. It was
afterwards sold to Burns & Murray, who erected the present hand-
some freestone edifice on the corner. Mr. William A. Black kept
his watchmaker's establishment at the corner below, now occupied
by the P. Walsh Hardware Co." On the corner of Hollis and
George Streets, where the Royal Bank building now is, we learn
from the same authority, stood in 1845 "the handsome freestone
building erected by the late Martin Gay Black. . . . Opposite,
near the Province Building rail, was the old town pump, known
as Black's pump, remarkable for its good water, where dozens of
boys and girls might be seen towards evening getting water for
tea. . . . Mr. Benjamin Etter had his watchmaker's shop at
the corner of George and Barrington Streets, now known as Cross-
kill's corner, in the same old wooden building, which has since
undergone extensive alterations."

In 1845 the site of William A. Black's watchmaker's establish-
ment had become the place of business of the firm of W. A. & S.
Black, founded by him. The other conditions of the locality, as

111

112 DANIEL McNEILL parkek, m.d.

above described, remained substantially unchanged at this date.
1 have noted here what is said of the Blacks and Mr. Etter because
they enter into our family history.

" The Dominion building," occupying the site of Cochran's,
afterwards Hare's, buildings, will be better recognized by younger
readers as the Post Office.

Number 8 Hare's buildings, the " establishment " and " resi-
dence " designated in the advertisement I have quoted, was situated
on the Cheapside front, and, as located for me by my father, stood
where the main southern entrance to the Post Office now stands.
It consisted of a quaint little shop, lighted by one small-paned
window ; a consulting-room or office in the rear, looking into a tiny
space by courtesy termed a courtyard ; a front room upstairs which
served as living-room and bedroom; a combined dining-room and
kitchen off this, in the rear ; and a sort of closet attached to that,
large enough to hold a truckle bed for that same " Dan Parker,
junior," who had served in Dr. Almon's drug store under the other
Dan, and had now enlisted in his service. This " junior partner,"
as the young physician's familiars facetiously called him, combined
in himself the functions of " chief cook and bottle washer," shop
attendant, wielder of the pestle, errand boy and general domestic
servant. Furnish the shop, as full as its meagre dimensions per-
mit, with the diverse and many-odored stock-in-trade of an old-time
'pothecary; the office with all the books and surgical equipment
it can contain, compatible with the existence of a writing-desk and
a few chairs ; the upper rooms with the bare necessities for living,
throwing in two or three extra plates and accompanying utensils of
the table for an occasional guest, — and you have an interior view
of the material res angusta domi during the earliest years of
practice.

Of his competitors in the field of practice at that time, and the
conditions attending the work of the profession in the city and
beyond, he has himself spoken in the address of 1895, which will
be found at a later page.

In the very nature of things it is not to be expected that this
narrative should attempt anything like a record of his work as
physician and surgeon, or an estimate of his professional ability
and worth. Though occasional instances from the former may
appear, yet, in the main, both must be illustrated, but in the most
general manner, by the testimony of others and by the professional
reputation which he established and which will long adhere to his
honored name in Nova Scotia and beyond.

Medical practice came to him at the outset and increased in
volume with unusual, even marvellous rapidity. There was no
anxious, discouraging period of waiting, usually so oppressive to
the beginner. On the contrary, patients awaited him. He was

1845 TO 1861 113

well known in Halifax already, and had many influential and
solicitous friends. Mature in appearance beyond his years, with
a self-reliance that was begotten by knowledge of himself, he
inspired confidence in others, even in practitioners of long standing,
so that his services as a surgeon were called in requisition earlier
in his career than is usually the case with juniors in the profession.

Then, and for some time afterwards, he knew well what prob-
ably no living surgeon now knows — the horrors of surgery when
anaesthetics were unknown; nor can even surgeons of the present
day imagine the " nerve " and the will-power required in the per-
formance of operations of any duration in the forties, — the ex-
haustive drain upon an extremely sensitive nervous system and a
tender, sympathetic spirit like my father's. I cannot attempt to
portray surgical operations at that period which he has described
to me, but the instance given in his address of 1895 may be sup-
plemented in a few lines. The subject was a large, unusually
powerful man. The operation was the removal of half the lower
jaw, which had to be sawn through at the chin and dislocated at the
socket. As usual, all the brandy that the patient could swallow
was administered. At a critical moment his struggles broke the
straps which bound him to the heavy deal operating table. He
leaped to the floor, and half naked, his body crimsoned with blood,
fought his way to the door, to escape into the street. The medical
students in attendance fainted and fell about the room. Special
attendants, engaged for such an emergency, overpowered the
wretched man upon the floor, where they lay upon his arms and
legs, while, seated across his body, the surgeon completed the
ghastly work, the patient shrieking " Murder !" and frightful im-
precations, so that the hideous clamor brought an excited crowd
and the town constabulary to the door.

That he came at once into public notice and showed, from the
beginning, public spirit and deep interest in what pertained to the
moral and intellectual uplift of his fellow-citizens, — a disposition
which was characteristic, — is evinced in his connecting himself
with the work of the Halifax Mechanics' Institute within a few
months of his settlement there, and becoming one of its managers.
This was a new movement then, an English institution which
spread through many of the colonies and had a considerable edu-
cational value. Its lecture courses were popular in Halifax and
were open to the general public, by whom they were largely
attended. He delivered, in these courses, the following lectures :
" Respiration," in the session of 1845-6 ; " Vitality," in the session
of 1846-7; "Instinct and Mind," in the session of 1847-8; and
two lectures on " The Circulation " (of the blood), in the session
of 1848-9. The manuscripts of these lectures have been found,
but on account of their volume it has been thought inadvisable to

114 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

include more than two of them in these pages. These will be found
in the Appendix " B." They are all alike scholarly in matter and
style, while the mode of presentation is admirably adapted to the
instruction of a general audience. When he delivered the first of
these lectures he was but twenty-three years of age.

Endowed with social gifts of a rare order, a vivacious and
attractive conversationalist, interested in every subject which
affected his fellow-men, delighting to enlarge in a discriminating
manner the circle of his friendships while he drew to himself the
comradeship of many through his admirable qualities of mind and
heart, he soon came to fill a conspicuous place in Halifax society.
He formed many friendships in the garrison and the navy, and was
a frequent guest at mess dinners, and aboard ship, in gun-room and
cabin. Strangely as it may read to those who knew him in later
life, he was not unknown as a participator in those social functions
called balls, and has been heard to own his attendance at a mas-
querade ball in the cotton-duck and palmetto costume of a West
India planter. The early association with young army and navy
officers thus formed led to many friendships with men who returned
to the Halifax station in after years distinguished by high rank
and by achievement in their professions.

But keen as was his enjoyment in the social life of the garrison
town and naval station, he found that the profession to which he
was wedded was a jealous mistress, and that with him, as he used
to say in referring to this period of his life, " it must be one thing
or the other." What he had said in an Edinburgh letter, quoted at
a previous page, still held good : " I find that parties and studies
cannot, with me, walk hand in hand." So gradually he weaned
himself from the allurements of social pleasures that he might
respond with unstinted loyalty to the increasing and imperative
demands which his growing reputation in the profession was
making upon his talents and his time. Not that he would, or could,
totally suppress his social instincts, but subordinate their grati-
fication to duty — an attitude of mind and a practice which through-
out life he always maintained.

During the first twenty years of his career, or thereabouts,
he was a contributor to the Edinburgh Medical Journal, one of the
first-rank periodicals in the medical world, writing chiefly upon
cases, both medical and surgical, occurring in his own practice.
His first article for the Journal, an account of an unusual surgical
operation he had performed, was sent to Dr. James Miller, one of
his professors in Surgery at the University, during the second year
after graduation. The Professor's letter, acknowledging receipt
of the article says, after discussing the subject-matter : u The case
does you infinite credit and will appear in the next number of the
Journal." The writer then proceeds to warn the young surgeon

1845 TO 1861 115

against repeating the operation, and states facts as to unsuccessful
attempts to perform it at Edinburgh, showing that at that time it
was rarely successful and was considered daring. Yet this particu-
lar operation succeeded, and the operation, in general, has become
common. Another instance of surgical progress since the forties.
This letter concludes by expressing the satisfaction with which its
writer and his colleagues of the Faculty had heard of their late
pupil's health. " We were somewhat afraid of your chest when
you left us," adds the Professor.

Later in life, when the accumulated burden of practice was
taxing his time and strength to the utmost and he was more and
more engaging in philanthropic and business directorships, he
wrote less, though occasionally he furnished contributions to med-
ical magazines on both sides of the Atlantic. In January, 1870,
he became a corresponding editor of The Canada Medical Journal,
in conjunction with Dr. Canniff, of Toronto, and Dr. William
Bayard, of St. John, and continued on this editorial staff for some
years. For obvious reasons no particular account of his work for
the literature of his profession can be presented here. There was
much of it, yet his time was so absorbed by other labors that he
found less opportunity for this congenial task than most prac-
titioners capable of undertaking it.

He had so prospered in less than eighteen months of practice
that the diminutive quarters in Hare's Buildings were outgrown.
Sometime before his marriage, which occurred on June 10th, 1847,
he had rented and furnished a three-storied wooden house on the
east side of Granville Street, located upon or adjoining the site
now occupied by A. & W. MacKinlay's shop. The house was of
moderate size and there was accommodation for the drug business
on the first floor. It was one of a row of residences, some of
which had shop fronts, for, as yet, merchants and professional men
deigned to live over their places of business. The imposing row
of lofty buildings on the opposite side of the street had not then
appeared. The southern end of that block of Granville Street was
known as Romans' corner and was the home of the Romans family.
From there, northward, there were dwelling-houses and small
shops, intermingled, as far as Ordnance Square. To this Gran-
ville Street home my father brought his bride, and there he resided
for about three years.

His next home was the brick house on the east side of Hollis
Street which became afterwards the residence of the Le ISToir
family. With several others, it was built by Judge William Hill
and his brother after the " Haliburton fire " of 1816 had swept
away the original wooden buildings of that block and the western
side of Bedford Row in the rear. In my school days this house
remained as it was when rented and occupied by my father.
The ground floor has since become converted into a shop.

116 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

The drug store business was now abandoned, and the apothecary
work, confined to the preparation of his own medicines, was
carried on in a dispensing room. Dr. Alexander F. Sawers, who
died in June, 1853, lived next door. Across the way, at the
corner now occupied by J. C. Mackintosh & Co.'s building, stood
old St. Matthew's Church, which was burned in the great fire of
New Year's Day, 1859.

Here, in the month of August, 1852, he endured a very seri-
ous illness, of typhoid fever, and his life was despaired of. While
he lay unconscious, grappling with death, his wife gave birth to
her only child, and within a few days afterwards passed away.
It was several days after her burial ere the stricken husband
regained consciousness and passed the crisis of his disease, and
many more elapsed before he knew that while conscious existence
was blotted out for him, his wife had entered through the portal
where he lay but whence he had returned, — returned to find her
gone, but leaving him love's legacy of a son. An old patient of
my father has told me how the whole town seemed moved by a wave
of suffering concern while this domestic tragedy was enacting;
how, at a word from an attending physician, men heaped the
roadway high with straw to still the noise of traffic, rough carters
would not pass that way, and the people, suppressing conversation,
tip-toed by the house.

It was in May of this year that he had become a member of
the Granville Street Baptist Church, where he was baptized by
the Reverend Edmund A. Crawley, D.D., then in his second
pastorate there.

My father appears to have habitually attended that church
from the time of his first residence in Halifax. His early associa-
tion with the Nuttings, Fergusons, Johnstons and other families
of the seceders from St. Paul's who had attached themselves to the
Reverend J. T. Twining, curate and garrison chaplain, when he
was dismissed by the Rector, would naturally be the preponderat-
ing influence upon my father in his selection of a place of worship
in Halifax. His parents, at home, in 1852, and for some time
after, remained adherents of the Church of England, in connec-
tion with which he had received his early religious nurture.
He was thirty years of age when he assumed the obligations of
membership in a church, and had been married about five years.
That he deferred this step so long, living, as he did, so closely
connected with leading men and families of the Baptist denomina-
tion, is an indication of that lofty conception of church obligations
and of the serious responsibilities attaching to a public profession
of religious faith and practice which was characteristic of him.
He could not lightly take this step. His cast of mind and morals
emphasized the ethical basis and import of religion. Profoundly

1845 TO 1861 117

thoughtful from boyhood in regard to the soul life, and reverential
in spirit and conduct towards the things of religion, it may be said
that what is called, in the spiritual sense, a Christian, he always
was. But to avow himself such in the sense of uniting publicly
with any body of Christians meant for him much thoughtful
deliberation and a careful investigation of the Scriptures. His
becoming a Baptist by profession was not marked by any such
sudden emotional experience as is often expressed in the word
" conversion." It was a process in the development of his spiritual
life which arrived with the conviction that by taking this public
stand and enlisting for service with an organized force in the
Kingdom of God he was doing his duty toward God, that he could
accomplish more for his own inner life and for the righteousness
which would exalt others. No influence beyond his own conclusion
from prolonged study of the New Testament affected his choice of
a church.

Touching his attitude and sentiment regarding religion, —
after his death I found in a note-book which he used when in
Virginia in the year 1883, the following extract from the corres-
pondence of a great lawyer prominent in the history of that State,
William Wirt. I give it here, because it reflects something of his
own religious opinions. If it had not, he would not have trans-
cribed the quotation among other matter, from various sources of
his reading, which I recognize as harmonizing with his own senti-
ments. " I do not think that enthusiasm constitutes religion, or
that Heaven is pleased with the smoke of the passions any more
than with the smoke of rams or bulls. There is a calm, steady,
enlightened religion of the rational soul, as firm as it is temperate,
which I believe is the religion of Heaven. Its raptures are those
of the mind, not of the passions ; its ecstasies are akin to fhose of
David."

That his assumption of church membership was early followed
by that active discharge of the more public religious duties in the
community which marked his later years, is illustrated by the
circumstance that, on the 10th of December, 1853, he was one
of fourteen citizens of Halifax who met and organized the Halifax
Young Men's Christian Association, modelled on the London plan
which was originated in 1844.

It was in this period of his life that eager, as always, to pro-
mote the public interests of Halifax and of the Province, he con-
nected himself with the work of the Halifax Horticultural Society
and of Industrial Exhibitions. As a member of that Society he
gave of his means and time to the work of reclaiming the waste
portion of the Halifax Common, now transformed into the beauti-
ful Public Gardens for which Halifax is famed. It had been a
mere bog in which the water was oozing up in every direction.

118 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

Froiiu this feature of its natural condition, and in imitation of
the famous London pleasure resort of that name, it was called
" Spring Gardens." The project of the Society, or Company,
was to make a pleasant place of resort, with the hope at the
same time that by its horticultural products and through musical
and other entertainments the property would be self-sustaining
and perhaps yield a small profit for further improvement. The
boggy land was drained, and to a large extent filled in with
new soil, fruit and ornamental trees and shrubbery were planted,
and under the care of James Hutton and another experienced
gardener named Irons, who preceded him, much was done to
beautify the place. Croquet lawns and an archery ground were
laid out, military bands played once or twice a week, and other
efforts were made to attract the public. In this the Society
succeeded; but as an investment the project could not pay its
way. Early in the seventies the public-spirited proprietors sur-
rendered their lease of the land and freely gave up their improve-
ments, with their shares in the Company, to the city. Thus
they laid the foundation for the Halifax Public Gardens.

When the first of the world's great Industrial Exhibitions
was promoted at London, under the presidency and active guidance
of Prince Albert, my father was associated with his old friend,
the Reverend Alexander Forrester, D.D., of educational fame,
as a commissioner of that undertaking, for this Province. In 1850
and 1851, he worked with great energy and considerable expendi-
ture of time in arranging for, assembling and transporting the
exhibit made by Nova Scotia. In testimony of these services he
received the Prince Albert Medal, with a certificate of the award
signed by the Prince Consort.

The medal bears, in low relief, the bust of the Prince,
with the superscription : " H.R.H. Prince Albert, President of
the Royal Commission." On the reverse is inscribed : " For
services, Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations,
1851." The certificate reads:

" Prince Albert Medal.

" Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, 1851.

" I hereby certify that Her Majesty's Commissioners have
awarded a Medal to D. Parker, for the services he rendered to
the Exhibition.

" Sgd. Albert,
" President of the Royal Commission.

"Exhibition, Hyde Park, London, 15th October, 1851."

1845 TO 1861 119

When, in 1852, in consequence of a lecture delivered by
Dr. Forrester before the Halifax Mechanics' Institute, it was
first proposed that an Industrial Exhibition for Nova Scotia
should be held at Halifax, it was natural that its promoters should
seek the services of those who had been commissioners of the
London Exhibition. Accordingly, Dr. Forrester became the
chairman of the Executive Committee of Commissioners, and
my father the vice-chairman.

The official report of this Executive Committee of the first
Provincial Exhibition, which was formally opened by the Lieuten-
ant-Governor, Sir Gaspard Le Marchant, on October 4th, 1854,
and continued the nine following days, in the Province Building
and the squares at either end, is of much interest.

" The Executive Committee directed their first attention
to the enlightenment of the public mind relative to the advantages
likely to accrue to the Province at large from such an under-
taking." In the course of this preliminary work, in January,
1852, there appeared in The Provincial magazine (volume 1,
number 1) conducted by his friends, the Misses Katzman and
Mr. and Mrs. George E. Morton, an article by the Vice-Chairman,
entitled, " Industrial Exhibitions Necessary as a Progressive Ele-
ment for the Advancement of Nova Scotia." This article is pre-
sented in full, a little further on, as an example of the writer's
literary style and of his force in advocating a cause to which his
energies were devoted. A second article from his pen, to the same
purpose, entitled, " A Few Words about our Exhibition," is found
in the February number of The Provincial for 1853.

Says the report, in speaking of the opening day : " The morn-
ing was ushered in by the bells of the various churches in the city
ringing ' a loud and merry peal,' and a salute of twenty-one
guns fired on the Grand Parade by the Volunteer Artillery, under
command of Major James Cogswell." At noon, an immense
procession formed on the Parade, marched through the principal
streets, and proceeding to Government House to receive the Lieu-
tenant-Governor, conducted him to the Exhibition, where he was
received by a military Guard of Honor. It is a little difficult to
picture my father parading the streets of Halifax with the Com-
missioners, preceded by the Axe Fire Company and followed
by the band of the 76th Regiment. Among the Societies in this
procession we find the African Abolition Society and the African
Friendly Society, composed of gentlemen of color. The whole
was led by the band of the 72nd Highland Regiment, whose pipers,
and another band, were also in the line.

The total number of exhibitors was 1,260, and the total number
of articles received for exhibition was 3,010. Two immense
exhibition tents which covered the ground at either end of the

120 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Province Building cost £460. The funds were raised by popular
subscription, supplemented by a Legislative grant. Among the
prize winners the following names are of interest to our family.
Samuel G. Black (5 prizes for sheep, 1 for woolen fleeces, and
another for mangolds) ; Charles H. M. Black (1 for honey in the
comb, another for a bee-hive) ; Mrs. W. L. Black (1 for best wax
flowers) ; and James McKay, " gardener to Hon. W. A. Black "
(a number of prizes for various vegetables). Francis R. Parker,
of Shubenacadie, who has figured in this narrative, appears as
a judge of sheep.

It is to be feared that, as compared with the evening enter-
tainment features now presented at our Provincial Exhibitions,
those provided and appreciated by our fathers would be deemed
queer, and quite inexplicable, by most moderns. They belong to
the days of Mechanics' Institutes, and a popular taste for intel-
lectual culture. Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in Mis.
Note a contrast here, and choose between the old and the new.

" With a view to rendering the exhibition still more attractive
and instructive," says the report, " provision was made by the
committee for the intellectual entertainment of visitors. Several
evenings were appropriated for this object." There were lectures
and addresses on the following subjects: " The religious prin-
ciple viewed as an element of National prosperity," by the Rev.
James Robertson, A.M., Rector of Wilmot, " a subject well adapted
to impart a healthful vigor to the whole course," the report
comments. " The Benefits of Industrial Exhibitions," by Dr.
Cramp, of Acadia College. " The Minerals of Nova Scotia," by
J. W. Dawson, Esq., of Pictou (afterwards Sir William Dawson,
Principal of McGill University). " The Horticultural and Agri-
cultural Capabilities of Nova Scotia," by the Hon. Provincial Sec-
retary, and the Hon. H. Bell. " Application of Science to Agricul-
ture," by Rev. Mr. Robertson. " Rural Economy," by Hon.
Joseph Howe, who also at a " Festival " or banquet, on another
evening, read a poem entitled " Our Fathers," prepared by him
for the occasion. " The Coal Fields of Nova Scotia," by J. W.
Dawson, Esq. " Chemical Affinity " (" accompanied by a series of
successful and beautiful experiments"), by James D. B. Fraser,
Esq., of Pictou. One evening was given up to a public discussion,
free to all, of the following subjects: 1. "Should orchards be
encouraged in Nova Scotia, and what is necessary to be done
with a view to their improvement ? " 2. " Should the growth
of the turnip be extended, and what is the best mode of treat-
ment ? " 3. " What is necessary to be done in order to lessen
the amount of manual labor in the Province ? "

Yet, with all this serious order of things, lighter forms of

1845 TO 1861 121

entertainment were not unprovided for, as we learn from the
report :

" Besides the opportunities afforded for literary improvement
already noticed, the committee took every available means of
securing innocent amusement and recreation for persons visiting
the exhibition. Among these may be enumerated a handsome dis-
play of fireworks, which came off under the direction of T. A.
Parsons, of Boston, Massachusetts, at the Governor's Field

" "A regatta, conducted with much spirit,

took place on the same day, under the patronage of their Excel-
lencies the Lieutenant-Governor, the Naval Commander-in-Chief,
and the General Commanding."

My father's enthusiastic interest in this exhibition, the ser-
vices he rendered in its behalf, and the historical interest attach-
ing to first things, will be thought sufficient reasons, I hope, for the
extended notice given the event in these pages.

The first article in The Provincial, promised at a previous
page, here follows :

INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITIONS.

Necessary as a Progressive Element, for the Advancement

of Nova Scotia.

The Great Industrial Exhibition of all Nations has closed its
doors. The Crystal Palace has emptied itself of the thousands
of human beings who for months took shelter within its trans-
parent walls. The wealth of the sunny South, of the frozen
North, of ancient Europe, and young America, so long warehoused
in glass, has been transferred to more substantial tenements of
wood and masonry. The " Mountain of Light " no longer there
collects, and again reflects, with dazzling brilliancy the rays which
emanate from that great source of light and life, the mightiest
diamond of the firmament above us — no longer enchained, does
it play with the sun by day, and the stars by night. In its
adventurous career, yet another change has taken place. Now, as
" the brightest gem in England's Crown," it adorns the brow of
England's much loved Queen.

The Commissioners have all but terminated their Herculean
labors ; nought now remains but dome and walls, where but a few
short months before all within was beauty, life, enchantment, a
scene of fairyland — variety has been supplanted, sameness reigns !
Yet these bare walls stand forth a monument of England's
greatness, an index of her vast resources. An English mind
originated, English minds and capital as if by magic erected her

122 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Crystal Palace, a structure as vast in its proportions as was the
object which gave it birth. Well may England be proud of her
Paxtons and Hendersons, her engineers, her architects, and con-
tractors, for they constitute much of her present glory, power and
influence.

The exhibition is past and gone! Not so its memory and
effects. When the sun in its diurnal course shall cease to illumine
the home of the Anglo-Saxon, then and then only, will this great
triumph of peace, science and skill of the 19th century, be blotted
from the world's history. Its results have been, and will be, too
grand and momentous not to be handed down to posterity. When
the names and sanguinary victories of men like Wellington and
Nelson shall have faded from the memory of man, or be only dimly
impressed there, the World's Fair of 1851, and its effects, will
still be vivid and indelibly engraven on the tablets of his mind.
Centuries hence it will be discussed as the greatest fact of the
present age.

The events so recently enacted in connexion with this great
display, might well be designated a " Congress of Peace," for in
England's Capital working on the same platform, side by side,
stood men opposed to and hating each other (in their own domains)
with a bitter hatred. The Russian and the Turk and Austrian
and Hungarian, with other most discordant material, on British
ground laid aside the gall and wormwood of his nature. The past
was forgotten in the present — evil passions and influences were
a hsorbed by, and sunk deep in, the vortex of a virtuous Maelstrom.
The watchwords of Republicans, " Unite, Egalite, Fraternite,"
seemed for a time to have an actual yet bloodless existence in
monarchical England. The plague, invasion by foreign Socialists,
and all the prophesied evils of the timid, that were to be the con-
comitants of this great event, vanished into empty air. All went
smoothly, successfully on, because, a kindly Providence seeing that
the work was for good and not for evil, smiled on it, and in wisdom
directed that it should be thus.

On this great and unique occasion, the land we live in, Nova
Scotia, was an interested party. Let us briefly glance at her con-
tribution, and at the position she there assumed, and from it learn
wisdom, and how to act, should we ever again be called on to take
part in a similar display.

Scarce a twelvemonth has elapsed, since crowds of people, old
and young, rich and poor in a steady stream, for three consecutive
days took their course across the Parade to gain admission to
the Museum of the Halifax Mechanics' Institute, for the purpose
of viewing the contribution in question. Some were satisfied,
more apparently delighted, while others again spoke of the meagre
appearance of the show, and with dissatisfaction in their looks

1845 TO 1861 123

shrugged their idle shoulders at the thought of the contrast so
shortly to be made between Nova Scotia and the world at large.
The exhibition, although perhaps creditable to the Province as
a first effort, fell far short of what it should have been, or what
it would have been, had the sympathies of the people been enlisted
in the undertaking ; or had they been aroused to exertion and com-
bined action, by a proper conception of the advantages that a
vigorous and noble effort on their part would have effected for their
native or their adopted land. Like the foolish virgins of Scripture,
the people of Nova Scotia slumbered, while the inhabitants of other
countries, with their lamps trimmed, labored and put forth their
best efforts to excel, and to render services the most valuable to the
land that claimed them. Science and the arts have thanked them,
the enlightened men of the present age do homage to the people
who by mental toil and manual labor have thus added to the general
store of human knowledge.

The entire contribution was gratuitously transmitted to Eng-
land, by a whole-hearted and generous son of Nova Scotia,* and
although arranged to the best advantage, was insignificant when
contrasted with other departments. Comparatively few, of the
many thousands who entered that great emporium of the wealth,
industry, and science of civilized nations, stood to examine and
admire our country's productions. Why was this ? We reply :
because, Nova Scotians were not awake to their own interests.
Here was a glorious opportunity proffered them, for informing the
world that their country was civilized ; that she had a climate other
than Siberian; that her natural resources were abundant, were
endless ; that within her territories and her waters were contained
those great and essential elements, which being properly developed
and directed, must lead to wealth and greatness ; that she lacked
only in three things, science, capital and labor! We again ask,
why was advantage not taken of this almost golden opportunity?
The response is — Bluenose wrapt his robe (the manufacture of
another country) around him, and said " It will require an effort.
If the world wants to know what Nova Scotia is made of, let the
world come and find out !"

How fallacious the doctrine; what folly is embraced in this
brief reply! Yet as to character, how much truth. 'Tis this
lack of energy, this want of mental and physical exertion, that
retards our progress, that keeps Nova Scotia becalmed and
anchored while other countries and other people are being wafted
onwards, with all sail set, o'er the sea of prosperity. We observe

* The Hon. Samuel Cunard, who forwarded the articles per steamer,
freight free, thereby saving what would have been a Provincial charge
Of £150.

124 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

them " hull down " in advance of us — but to follow, " to raise the
wind " and weigh anchor, would require — an effort ! — 'tis easier
to remain " in statu quo."*

These remarks explain the cause of our Provincial deficiency
on the occasion to which we have reference :

Out of the 250 or 300,000 inhabitants said to be contained
in Nova Scotia, not more than ten or twelve individuals beyond
the limits of the city came to the assistance of the Committee
appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor. Without this aid, small
though it was, the efforts of the Halifax Board would have been
abortive, and our Province would have been entirely unrepresented
at the "World's Fair."

It may be said that Nova Scotia did well, when contrasted
with New Brunswick, from whence nothing was forwarded. The
fact of New Brunswick having been asleep when it should have
been at work, cannot be pleaded as an excuse for our lethargy.
The example of a man who does no good in life, cannot consistently
be followed by his neighbor. Instead of restricting his efforts
(as it but too frequently does) it should, on the contrary, prompt
him to increased exertion. In the case in point, New Brunswick
speedily discovered her error, and forthwith neutralized it, by
applying a proper and most efficient remedy, the same that we
shall presently prescribe for Nova Scotia.

Pass the borders of New Brunswick and enter Canada, — see
what her population effected.

The Canadians viewed the thing in its proper light, saw its
importance, made an effort and succeeded, beyond the expectations
of the most sanguine. They opened their purses, contributed their
money. The masses moved; the man of science, the merchant,
and the artisan went to work. There was energetic and combined
action, resulting in the best and greatest display of her industrial
resources that Canada ever witnessed. These crossed the Atlantic
under the charge of a special agent, who tastefully fitted up his
department, and displayed to the utmost advantage the wares
of this country. Canada absorbed, almost undivided, the interest
of the thousands who were anxiously examining the productions of
the North American Colonies.

The Canadian as he viewed the daily crowd of men from almost
every nation of the earth, scanning and admiring the contribu-
tion of his country, inwardly ejaculated, " Canada, I'm proud
of you ! " While doubtless hundreds of intending emigrants, who

* The above strictures are only applicable to Nova Scotians taken
collectively. Individually, more especially when removed from the con-
tagious region and home influence, he is another person — a man, in every
sensB of the word, and one, too, perfectly capable of competing with his
fellow man in any country, sphere, or business.

1845 TO 1861 125

visited the exhibition, and were undecided as to the course they
should pursue, finally concluded, after scrutinizing her products,
her science and her skill, and contrasting these with those of other
Colonies, that thither they would embark their capital and them-
selves— that Canada should be their future home.

Would that Nova Scotia had by a similar effort attracted the
attention of the world. She had the materials, human, natural
and artificial. To demonstrate this fact, would have cost her an
effort, — she dozed while the opportunity passed.

'Tis said, that an opportunity lost cannot be regained. The
saying is here verified, but while mourning over the deficiencies,
the losses of the past, hope points with a cheerful countenance to
the future.

Every disease has its remedy. Nova Scotia, although partially
paralyzed, may yet be made to move with activity. All that she
wants is strong stimulus, which will act on her population, moving
her mental, and through it, her physical material: not in the
accustomed " jog trot " fashion of old, but with rapid strides,
quick jumps, — a stimulus that shall cause energy to supplant
lethargy; motion, paralysis.

It is not to be expected that any one agent in itself should
prove a perfect Panacea, and remove a disease so formidable and
of such long duration as that to which allusion is here made; but
we would suggest, as a partial remedy, a stimulus that will pervade
the whole Provincial organism, and cannot fail in the end to
prove largely beneficial to all her varied interests.

We have reference to Periodical Industrial Exhibitions, com-
mencing in the Capital, and moving in regular order through
every county in the Province. Not on a paltry, diminutive scale,
but comprehensive, the result of thought, labor, and much pre-
paration embracing and representing every interest, every pro-
duction, whether natural or artificial, which the Province and its
human talent can be made to yield.

We fancy we hear some of our countrymen say " It's all very
well to talk, but the thing cannot be done, it would require much
effort, we are too young and altogether unprepared for such a
work." Our answer to such a man, would be, if you will not aid
in the attempt, don't thwart, but move aside and give place to
those who have the energy and disposition to advance the general
welfare and interests of the land.

Can the thing he accomplished ? We say yea ! Do you,
reader, say the same ? We know you do ! Let the rich man and
the poor, the professional man and the mechanic, in town and
country, in village and hamlet, cry in earnest, and in unison — it
can be done, and it shall be done, — and the thing is accomplished.

The first attempt will be good, and the second better, the

126 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKER, M.D.

third and subsequent ones, aided by the experience of the past,
will be a credit to the Province ; and when again Great Britain or
any other country extends to us a similar invitation to that of
1850, Nova Scotia will stand forth, fill her department, and assume
that position which Nature, when endowing her, intended that she
should occupy. Nova Scotians will then have performed their
duty, and given to their country a world-wide and an enviable
notoriety.

What good will accrue to us. as a people, by a series of these
Exhibitions ? Innumerable and incalculable advantages will
result, as must be apparent to every thinking mind, from such
undertakings. To a few of these let us briefly turn our attention :
1st. They will be a direct means of demonstrating to ourselves
the real intrinsic value of our Province. We daily hear its
resources spoken of in glowing language : " The Resources of Nova
Scotia," is a familiar phrase in every man's mouth. Yet how few
there are, who have a just conception of their nature, extent or
worth. Vague and indefinite ideas, founded on no practical know-
ledge, have possession of men's minds in relation to this matter.
Let us then demonstrate, first, to the people, the masses of Nova
Scotia, and afterwards, when an opportunity offers, to the world
at large, what our Province is actually made of, what its real
resources are. Do this effectually, and ere long emigration from
our shores will be heard of only as a past event. The ebb will
have ceased, the flood tide will have commenced. Then, the stream
will be turned once more into its proper channel, the interior of
the country will be settled, the back woods will ring to the stroke
of the emigrant's axe, while all, both within and without, will be
vigour — life — advancement.

2nd. What a stimulus it will be to the producing and mechani-
cal portion of our community. The plough, the anvil, and the
loom, will all be worked by hands, and directed by minds anxious
to excel. There will be a generous competition, that great incen-
tive to human action. Nova Scotians will first compete in this
race with each other, then with their neighboring Colonists ; and
in the end, they will be schooled and prepared to enter the lists
with the " wide world."

Already have our iron, steel, and fur, in the first grand contest
of nations carried off the highest prize.*

* Extract from a letter addressed to the writer by a gentleman in
London: "They have awarded Mr. Archibald two prizes of the first
class, which speaks volumes for the excellence of your products. Indeed,
it may be taken as a fact beyond dispute, that the iron and steel of Nova
Scotia .is second to none that the world can produce. These samples are
the very first of your manufacture, and yet they stand successful with
the like productions from countries boasting a reputation of centuries.
The only country that can pretend to compete with Nova Scotia for steel

1845 TO 1861 127

Let this fact nerve our minds and arms for future action,
let us move onward, in the right direction, and when another such
opportunity is offered us, our " first class " prizes will not be
doled out by twos and threes, but be scattered wide, by the dozen,
through different sections of the land.

3rd. Being made familiar with the actual natural wealth of
our country, and having new life and vigor infused into our
palsied system, men's minds will be directed to the development
of these resources; to rendering them practically available, for
the advancement of their own pecuniary interests. These exhibi-
tions will thus tend to produce manufactories, a lamentable
deficiency in our land. Those now in existence will be improved
and extended, while others, not yet born, will annually spring
up and flourish, not " like the flowers of the field," but perman-
ently, exerting an influence widespread and expansive, and not
to be appreciated by us in our present depressed and infantile
state. Another result, as certain to follow the contemplated
movement, may be briefly alluded to.

It will open up new markets for our productions, from
unexpected quarters. A practical example or two will best
illustrate this position. A naturalist of Nova Scotia* put up
three small cases of insects, with his accustomed taste and skill ,
which were forwarded to the London Exhibition. These, as well
as several cases of stuffed birds, sent by the same gentleman, at
once attracted the attention of parties interested in the study of
Natural History. The insects were purchased from the agent at
a large advance over the Nova Scotia price. Since then, orders
have been received from England for a number of cases at the
same highly remunerative prices. At the recent New Brunswick
Exhibition, many articles were disposed of at the manufacturers'
charges, previous to their removal from the building, and doubt-
less new and extensive orders originated from the display in
question.

The great seedsmen of Edinburghf fitted up a large case con-
taining all the seeds, roots, etc., indigenous to Great Britain,

and iron is Sweden andi there fuel has become so scarce that the quantity is
yearly diminishing. There is abundance of every element in your
province to supply the world, and when properly developed, to make
your little country one of the most prosperous under the sun. There is
a medal awarded to the Nova Scotia committee for a choice collection of
skins. Mr. Robinson, I believe, was the contributor. While the quality
of your iron cannot be surpassed by any yet discovered, it is said that
the same remark applies to your fur and skins. Mr. Robinson's collection
in London was superior to that of the Hudson's Bay Company, Russia, or
any there exhibited."

* Mr. A. Downs, Junior.
fMessrs. Lawson & Sons.

128 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

valued at £150 stg. and sent it to " the World's Show." It had
not been long there before the firm received orders for similar
cases from the Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, and
other crowned heads of Europe. No doubt, that single package,
there exposed to the gaze of the world, will be the means of putting
thousands of pounds into the pockets of these enterprising men.
Hundreds of parallel instances might be quoted in connexion
with the history of the World's Pair for 1851.

To treat this subject here, in all its beneficial relations, would
be impossible. We will only further refer the reader to the effects
of such exhibitions as illustrated in the experience of the United
States, where -nearly every city, town and village of importance,
has its " annual show," as it is there called. Ask the American
citizen his opinion of such displays, and he will tell you that they
have exerted, and still continue to exert, a wonderful influence
for good — that they infuse vigor, a spirit of enterprise and
emulation into the minds of all classes — that they act as powerful
levers to elevate morally, socially and intellectually, the people of
the Union. How could it be otherwise ? What these exhibitions
have done for the United States, they will do for Nova Scotia, if
her sons and daughters will it.

Were the pros and cons equal, which is most assuredly not
the case, the mere additional circulation of money should be an
inducement, and turn the scale in favor of such exhibitions, in
these times of depression and langour. In England, immense
sums were expended by travellers alone, who were drawn thither
by the great sight of the age — the departed exhibition. Every
class benefited by it; even the remote corners of the empire felt
in this, if in no other way, its beneficial effects. The same
remarks are applicable in a minor degree, to New Brunswick
and her recent show. The late Railway Jubilee was, it is esti-
mated, a clear gain to the city of Boston of $100,000, that
amount, over and above the expenditure, having been left behind
by travellers and guests.

how are these exhibitions to be originated, and what
Body will Constitute the Moving Power?

In St. John, N.B., the Mechanics' Institute took the initiative.
The same thing has been recommended here* ; and as there is

* The Rev. Alex. Forrester in a most patriotic and powerful address
recently delivered before the Halifax Mechanics' Institute, took this
ground but at the same time recommended that large additions should
be made from without the Institute, and that every interest in the pro-
vince should be represented in this central board or moving power. Mr.
Forrester has been the first person in Nova Scotia to propound publicly
the necessity of these institutions. May his call be responded to.

1845 TO 1861 129

much to be said in favor of the suggestion, we trust it will be
adopted. Let then, a board of commissioners be organized, con-
sisting of some of the leading men of the Mechanics' Institute,
one or two members of Government, members of the Legislature,
and of the Agricultural Society. These, with representatives
from the various professions and trades in the Province, might
constitute " a Central Board." They should be men of influence
who have the best interests and welfare of the Province at heart,
and who would not hesitate to labor in a cause of such importance.
Under their directions in each county, local boards could be
organized consisting of the most intelligent, scientific and practical
men of the different districts. With the addition of one or two
travelling agents, who by their acquirements and knowledge would
be capable of delivering lectures, and exciting an interest among
the people, the above would constitute the working machinery, the
lever that would raise the mass.

Where are the Funds to Come From ?

The money requisite to efficiently carry on the work, would be
considerable, but it would not all be required at the offset. There
are three sources from whence it could be derived: 1st, from
private contributions. A love of country, or patriotism, would,
we trust, induce the more wealthy to give their pounds, the
middling classes their shillings, and the poor man his pence.
2nd, from the Provincial chest. The principle has been con-
ceded here, as in the other colonies, that for great and important
works, calculated to benefit the whole people, the government
or legislature may make liberal advances from the public treasury.
And what object more important, I would ask, than the one
under consideration ? It is difficult to name it ! For such con-
tributions or advances, both the private individual and the Pro-
vince would receive in return more than compound interest —
if not directly, certainly indirectly. Sooner or later, they would
be the recipients of a ten-fold reward. Lastly, the fees for admis-
sion would probably be large. The money thus obtained on the
first two days, at the recent show in New Brunswick, more than
paid for every expenditure, the erection of a Miniature Crystal
Palace 60 feet by 120, included. While, to ascend from small
things to great, the London Exhibition at its close left in the
hands of its executive a surplus fund of some £200,000 or
£300,000, stg.

With facts like these before us, on the score of money we should
not hesitate; the pecuniary difficulty will have no existence.

130 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

From Whence will Come the People to View our

Productions, and to Furnish this Revenue, Assuming

that the thing is successfully completed ?

From every section of the Province. If we enlist the sym-
pathies of the masses, obtain their assistance, and the results of
their labor, will they be content to hear of the exhibition only
through the press ? Certainly not. They will by hundreds come
to the Capital, or elsewhere, to view the work of their own hands.
Again, if these industrial displays are established on an extensive
scale, strangers will come from afar. The other Colonies, and
doubtless the United States, will furnish large parties, if proper
arrangements for conveying them hither be made. Cheap pleasure
excursions originating in St. John, induced hundreds to visit
the late show there, from Nova Scotia, Canada, Boston, Portland
and other parts of the United States. This ingress of strangers,
while it will extend to other countries a knowledge of our resources
and capabilities, will act as a stimulus to those more immediately
interested. We will be aware that the eyes of North America
are fixed on us, which fact will prompt us to increased exertion.

Nova Scotians ! shall these exhibitions be attempted ? Argu-
ment, example, everything speaks loudly in their favor; let us
cast aside our lethargy, make but an effort, a vigorous effort,
and a Provincial Industrial Exhibition for 1852 will be attempted
and concluded with honor to ourselves and our country. Let the
Government and its head, the Bench and the Bar, and all these
occupying high places in the land, step forward and say " We
will aid in the undertaking, not with a feeble voice, but with all
our strength, with our influence, our interest, and if required,
with our money." Then will be seen the farmer and the naturalist,
the carpenter and the smith, in short, representatives from every
trade and profession in the Province, joining in the chorus of " a
long pull and a strong pull, and a pull all together." Periodical
Industrial Exhibitions will not be viewed through the mists of the
dim future, their present advantages will be felt, they will be fixed
and established facts in our Colonial History. These, with other
elements of progress, which are attainable and within our mieans,
being once adopted and developed, adversity will retreat, pros-
perity will be the victor. The happiness induced by success, will
displace those feelings of envy, discord and disappointment which
are engendered by a want of it. Nova Scotia will be progressively
elevated — and " Bhienose " her son, while contemplating the
change effected in his condition, will once more fold his robe,
now of home manufacture, around him, survey the work of his
hand, and express his grateful acknowledgments to that all-wise
Providence, which prompted him in the hour of necessity to make
an effort to redeem his country from obscurity and depression.

1845 TO 1861 131

To return to domestic affairs. It was in the spring or summer
of 1853 that the purchase of the Dartmouth cottage property was
made and the cottage built. This was designed to be a summer resi-
dence for the child, Johnston, with his nurse, and a place of retreat
for himself, when work would permit. The Misses Katzman, to
whom reference has been made, occupied the cottage, in its early
history, for the greater part of the year. James W. Johnston,
junior, was then living on the place adjoining, afterwards pur-
chased by F. M. Passow, when " Sunnyside," bounding the cottage
lot on the south, became the home of Mr. Johnston. James W.
Johnston, senior, then lived at " Mount Amelia," on the hill above.
The cottage property comprised that part of the " Beechwood "
homestead which lies between the Eastern Passage road and the
Old Ferry road. The cottage itself formed that part of the present
house (except the attic story) between the northern wall and the
southern line of the lower main hall, and consisted of two stories,
and a basement for the kitchen department. It had entrances east
and west, with a verandah on the west side reached by two opposing
flights of stairs meeting on a platform in advance, and of the same
height as the present verandah. The front drawing-room in the
present house was the drawing-room of the cottage, the rear one was
its dining-room, from the east window of which steps led to a lawn.
The present sitting-room was the main bedroom of the cottage,
with a bay window, breast high, overlooking the harbor. The
north-east bedroom in its rear was the nursery. A stable, after-
wards removed to its present position and enlarged by the addi-
tion of a coachman's house, stood at right angles to the cottage,
extending from about the position of the extreme south-west corner
of the new house, westerly. Among the trees on the bank behind,
then more numerous, was a large play-house for children, covered
on roof and sides with spruce tree trunks, in the style of a log
cabin. Beyond this, where now are the upper sidewalk and retain-
ing wall, the ground, thickly wooded, sloped naturally to the line
of the property from the street, which was then lower, and there
was a board fence in the hollow, following the course of the present
retaining wall as its base runs.

On August 26th, 1854, the marriage of my father and mother
was celebrated, at " Belle-Vue." A family party was then made
up for a tour in Canada and the United States. Beside the bride
and groom it consisted of the bride's sister Elizabeth and her
husband, L. A. Wilmot (afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court
of New Brunswick, and Lieutenant-Governor of that Province),
the bride's sister Emma, then unmarried, her sister Celia, her
brother Martin, and her niece Jane, afterwards the wife of Captain
Samuel Adams, of the 60th Rifles. The route and places visited
were as follows : By the Cunard ship " Europa," with 200 English

132 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

passengers aboard, to Boston; thence to Albany, N.Y. ; thence to
Niagara Falls ; thence across the lake to Toronto ; thence by boat
to Kingston, Ont ; thence by boat for Montreal, but, finding them-
selves on a steamer overcrowded with troops among whom cholera
broke out on board, the party disembarked at Prescott and crossed
over to Ogdensburg in the State of New York; thence, next day
to Montreal ; thence by rail, and by boat down Lake Champlain,
to New York; thence to Philadelphia, back to Boston, by rail,
and home again by a Cunard steamer, in time for the detail pre-
paratory work of the Provincial Exhibition, with which the bride-
groom was connected, as we have seen, and which was an event
not to be missed.

At my mother's marriage her father's wedding gift was the
stone house at the south-west corner of Argyle and Prince Streets,
overlooking St. Paul's Church Square, with the land appurtenant.
The property extended on Argyle Street southerly to the Bur-
meister house, a granite building, and had a stable at the south-
eastern corner. Thence it extended through to Grafton Street,
where there was a rear entrance into a large lot on which stood a
second stable and a detached house for a coachman. South of the
residence was the garden. The wooden annex in the rear of the
house, fronting on Prince Street, was afterwards built by my
father for offices and a medical dispensary. A transverse lobby,
with doors on either side containing glass panels, separated this
building from the house. I well remember that this lobby formed
an amphitheatre in which the trusty Charles, butler and indis-
pensable doer of many things, was wont to match his black-and-tan,
Jessie, against as many sewer rats as could be provided at a time
by a band of lively but not over-industrious medical students, who
would indulge my infant taste by holding me up to witness these
combats through those glass doors. The original office and con-
sulting-room was at the north-east corner of the house, on the first
floor. This house was built by Dr. William J. Almon, the father
of my father's old preceptor and grandfather of the Senator of
the same name. This first of the Doctors Almon, the progenitor
of five generations of Halifax doctors bearing the name, came to
Halifax with the British forces on the evacuation of Boston, in
1776, and died in England in 1817. The house was built soon
after the close of the Revolutionary War. It was afterwards the
residence of the builder's son, Hon. Mather Byles Almon, from
whom it was purchased in 1854. The house and its location, now
so altered in their use and character, were then considered most
desirable for residence, and that part of Argyle Street was almost
wholly occupied for residential property. Opposite this new home,
to which my parents returned after their tour in Canada and the
United States, was the historical Bulkeley House, then the home

1845 TO 1861 133

of the Cogswell family. Hon. Hezekiah H. Cogswell died there in
1854. Dr. Charles Tupper, my father's lifelong friend, resided
a few doors south of that. The neighbors immediately south, on
the other side, were the Burmeisters; and beyond them, at the
southern corner of the block, was the handsome residence of the
Uniackes, a large wooden building, originally of three stories, with
a parapet all around the roof, ornamented with large urns. It was
built by Hon. Richard John Uniacke, for many years Attorney-
General, whose son Richard John, junior, fought the last duel in
Halifax, in 1819, when he killed Mr. Bowie, of the firm of Bowie
& De Blois. Another son, Andrew, was the occupant at the time
now referred to, and as late as 1872. Doctors Garvie and Hattie
were near neighbors on the block of Argyle Street opposite St.
Paul's Church. On the next block northward stood the old home
of the Blacks, my mother's grandfather and father. She was born
there, and there she spent her first twelve years, until her father,
in April, 1846, purchased " Belle- Vue " from the estate of Ben-
jamin Etter, who was my mother's maternal grandfather. The
southern extension of the Moir bakery now covers the site of the
old home.

The summer months were spent by the family at the Dart-
mouth cottage. There my father spent such hours as he could
snatch from his time-devouring labors. Worn out by work, at
times he would seek this haven for a night of unbroken sleep, an
experience which had become too unfamiliar. The ferry ceased
to run at eleven, and the telephone was far in the future yet. But
a night off duty was rare, only permissible when it was taken to
avoid night calls to new cases, and when there was no expectation
of nocturnal visits in those that were pending.

The years of unremitting toil as a general practitioner in both
branches of his profession were broken now and then by what
might be called flying visits to New York, Boston or elsewhere,
where rest was found in brief change of scene and the changed work
of investigating some discovery in medicine or some advance in
surgery, news of which had reached him ; and he never returned
without acquiring fresh knowledge by which his patients might
benefit. He was progressive, always enquiring, ever learning, an
insatiable student and investigator. He believed that, in his pro-
fession, not to advance was to go back. With a large library,
which he always supplemented by taking in many current medical
magazines, he was not satisfied with reading only. He must see
things for himself in surgery ; and any new operation, once seen,
he could come home and perform. In this manner he kept con-
tinuously abreast of the advances being made in his always pro-
gressive vocation. By this method, too, he formed friendships,
valuable and sympathetic, with eminent men in the United States

134 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

and Canada, called together by common interest to witness or dis-
cuss the newest things in surgery and medical discovery. Such
men became his correspondents and would keep him informed so
that he might make timely visits to American cities. Agnew,
Sands, Draper and Delafield, of New York, and many older men
of professional eminence there and in other American cities, such
as Professor Willard Parker and Dr. Buck, of New York, but
whose names cannot all be recalled, appreciated his worth and
were among his admirers, and some of them sought his aid in con-
sultation when opportunity offered during his visits. I was once
with him in New York when the most distinguished surgeon of
that time in the city drove him over to Brooklyn to assist in an
operation. " What do you get for that, Sands ?" asked my father,
on their way back. " A thousand dollars," was the answer. " I
do that for fifty," said the Nova Scotia surgeon. "Come on;
move to New York," was the laconic reply of the more fortunate
New Yorker. Some of these professional brethren of the Republic
were accustomed to visit him at his home. In the same spirit,
and for the same purpose, he would cross the Atlantic, but more
rarely ; and he never failed, by personal correspondence with men
of the highest standing in Edinburgh and London, to keep himself
" up-to-date " and well informed as to all advances being made in
the old country as well as in the new. As evidencing the reputa-
tion he established abroad, both before and after the transition in
practice of 1873, and the esteem in which he was held by the front
rank men of the profession with world-wide reputations, many of
these in Great Britain and in the United States, and, it may be
added, all the eminent men of Canada, were accustomed to send
him copies of their medical and surgical pamphlets, reports of
cases, and periodical writings, — very often accompanied by expres-
sions of affectionate regard. Of these, many volumes might now
be made, for he was accustomed to preserve them for reference.

Such was his practice at Argyle Street, until he relinquished
general practice in 1871, that it was not uncommon for him to
have a day's visiting list of from forty to fifty names, and his
rounds began often at six or seven o'clock in the morning. It was
his habit to " get a bite," as he would say, where he happened to
call about the hours for meals, and many days he never tasted food
at home. If he chanced to be where the " bite " was not to be had,
he went hungry. He belonged distinctively to that old school of
family physician — " a guide, philosopher and friend " as well as
medical man — and was so generally beloved that no more welcome
guest, though uninvited, was ever greeted in the homes of his
patients, from, the stateliest mansion of authority or wealth to the
cottage of the lowliest poor. And they were all alike to him.
After a day's work upon such a round of visits as would keep

1845 TO 1861 135

him out frequently until nearly bed-time, and would include per-
haps several surgical operations, there would come the dreaded
summons of the night-bell beside his bed, perhaps several of these
in succession. Conscientious in the highest degree, and cherishing
the ethics of the profession in this as in all other aspects, he would
never refuse these calls save when his own real illness barred the
door. But sometimes when, sunk deep in the slumber of utter
physical and mental exhaustion at the close of a long day's weary
round, even the close-clattering bell could not avail to break the
seal of nature on his senses, his watchful wife, refusing to arouse
him, made bold to deny nocturnal importunity, upon what she
thought sufficient ground, and to send away the caller to some
neighboring physician. My mother's relation of her husband's
labors in those years of general practice make one marvel that his
life was not cut short by a quarter of a century. Indomitable
power of the will, and the ability to catch a few moments of dozing
sleep here and there throughout the day, may, in part, explain
why it was not so, for his physical constitution in youth, as we have
seen, was not considered robust.

A number of medical students read in the Prince Street offices,
received instruction and witnessed operations. But the old-time
custom of paying £100 to the preceptor had then become more
honored ( ?) in the breach than in the observance. A pharmacist,
who also acted as book-keeper, was employed, and all medicines
were compounded on the premises. I recall that the late Dr.
Venables and Mr. Charles H. Hepworth both occupied this
position.

In the forties and fifties my father rode on horseback a great
deal in making his professional rounds, and he was an excellent
horseman. At Argyle Street he kept three horses, using them for
a day each in turn. Reference to his earlier modes of travel is
made in his Address of 1895, before alluded to. An illustrative
incident or two may not be amiss here.

Arrived home one evening about eight o'clock, fatigued by a
hard day's work, he found an urgent message from a doctor in
Windsor, asking him to operate there next day. There was then
no railway, and the coach leaving the following morning could not
get him there before evening. There was nothing for it but to start
at once, for he knew that to be effective the operation must be per-
formed in the morning, and as early as possible. A hasty meal,
and he was again in the saddle. It was winter, and a heavy,
driving snow-storm came on when he had ridden about half-way.
Fortunately his well-proved horse was familiar with the Windsor
road, and to him the rider, when in doubt, would commit the reins ;
yet the snow-drifts grew so deep that where there were no fences
for guidance the road could not be kept, was lost and found again

136 DANIEL McKEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

many times. At a point where the road passed through a thick
wood, in a darkness which shut out even sight of his horse's head,
the struggle against nature's demand could no longer be maintained,
and the rider fell asleep. The knowing, trusty horse knew it, and
evidently reasoned that it would be safer for his master, swaying
in the saddle, and very much more comfortable for himself, if he
should " turn in " too, for what remained of such a night. At
daybreak the rider awoke with a start to find himself lying forward
on the drooped neck of the horse, supported by his saddle-bags, and
the animal, apparently asleep, standing in the wood under the
sheltering branches of a spruce tree. It was still snowing heavily.
The horse had turned into a wood-road, and had shown sagacity
and great care in approaching, as well as selecting sleeping quar-
ters. Had he taken to cover over rough ground, which lay all about,
or not proceeded very cautiously, his sleeping master must inevit-
ably have been thrown, and perhaps injured, where he might have
lain long before being discovered. Many long and lonely rides by
day and night had established a perfect understanding of each
other, and a mutual affection. That favorite horse was one of the
truest friends his proud owner ever had. With much difficulty,
because of the now badly blocked road, and by taking short
cuts through wood and field, my father reached his destina-
tion in the forenoon of that day. The operation was done at
once, and it was marked by an incident which he used to say
was unique in his experience. The patient, an old man and
wealthy, was instantly relieved from great pain by the opera-
tion and was thoroughly appreciative. " What's your fee,
doctor?" said he, as the surgeon was packing his instruments.
" Fifty dollars, Mr. S." Turning to his son and pointing to a
drawer in his desk, the old man said : " Give him a hundred !"
And the surgeon thought the travel, if not the operation, was
worth it. The closing hour of that night saw him back in Halifax,
on the same horse. Rides of that distance, through any weather,
were not unusual for him.

On another occasion, going to Pictou or its vicinity, to operate,
he took, as he often did, his own light carriage, doing the first stage
or two with one of his own horses and trusting for changes to the
stables at the post houses on the coach route. There was need for
the utmost haste, for a human life was in the balance. At one
road house there was no horse to be had but a heavy, vicious and
dangerous stallion which had recently attacked and injured a man.
The innkeeper refused at first to hire him on this account, but
yielded to the imperious demand of the doctor, who " must " have
him. On a lonely piece of road the horse became refractory, back-
ing and rearing in an ugly manner, which threatened to upset the

1845 TO 1861 137

carriage. His driver leaped out and was about to take him by the
head, when the brute reared and struck at him with his forefeet.
The impatient horseman's fighting blood was roused. Evading
several blows, he ran in and gripped the reins with both hands,
close to the curb bit. But he did not reckon on the consequence.
The furious horse reared on his hind feet to his full height again
and again, now swinging his clinging enemy in the air while he
tried to beat him down with his fore-hoofs; now plunging to the
earth in attempts to trample him underfoot, and all the while try-
ing for a hold with his teeth upon the arms which held him. But
the determined adversary held grimly on. There was nothing else
for him to do. To release that grip meant probable death. For
many minutes, that seemed like hours to the clinging man, this
awful struggle went on. Bruised and battered by the animal's
forelegs, dizzy with the shock and nervous tension of the unequal
combat, his strength was failing, when a wagon containing three
or four men appeared on the scene, and by them the horse was suf-
ficiently subdued to effect my father's release from his perilous
situation. But his own native resolution was not subdued ; for
when his timely rescuers had righted his carriage and helped him
repair damages to the harness, he set out to conquer that stallion, —
and conquer him he did, running him at his utmost speed to the
next post, keeping him at it with a heavy whip playing like a flail,
and there delivering him for return to his owner, — a trembling,
dripping and thoroughly cowed horse.

It appears by the first annual report of the Halifax Visiting
Dispensary Society, which was instituted in 1855, that Dr. Wil-
liam J. Almon and my father were the consulting surgeons for that
year.

The Medical Society of Halifax, formed in 1844, was the
pioneer organization of its kind in the Province. Previous to
1854 it had been agitating the matter of improved medical legis-
lation to repress the increasing number of persons coming into the
Province, " thoroughly versed in all the vile arts of the quack ;"
but repeated attempts to obtain such legislation had failed. " In
1854, a committee of this Society, appointed for the purpose,
reported as follows : ' With regard to the improper treatment of
bills presented of late years to the Legislature, your committee are
of opinion that the only alternative now left by which an effectual
resistance may be offered to the unjust procedure of the com-
mittees of Assembly appointed to investigate the petitions of
medical men is a union of the profession throughout the Province.
To effect such union your committee suggest that the Medical
Society of Halifax should become a Provincial association and its
title altered accordingly; and, further, that the practitioners
throughout the Province be invited by a circular to become mem-
bers of the association.'

138 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKER, M.D.

" On motion of Dr. Parker, it was resolved, ' That it is expe-
dient for the members of the profession in this Province to organize
themselves forthwith into an association for scientific and pro-
fessional purposes for their mutual protection, and that every
regularly qualified practitioner in Nova Scotia be invited to join
the association.' In 1854 the association was organized and the
Hon. W. Gregor elected President, the country members having
heartily endorsed the scheme. A memorial was drawn up for
presentation to the legislature, and the Act of 1856 was introduced
by the late Dr. Webster, of Kentville."

The foregoing quotation is from a Presidential address on
Nova Scotia medical legislation, delivered before the Nova Scotia
Medical Society by Dr. D. A. Campbell in 1889.

This second step in medical legislation, from the imperfect
Act of 1828, established a Registration system, and was a distinct
advance, in other respects, for the protection of the public and
the profession.

To the exigencies of the contest by which this Act of 1856 was
wrung from a reluctant Legislature, the Nova Scotia Medical
Society, originated on the motion of my father, owed its birth.

In 1857 he was elected President of the Society.

When the Provincial Hospital for the Insane, at Mount Hope,
was organized by the Government in 1858, he was appointed by
the Governor-in-Council to the original Commission of nine which
managed it, and was elected its first chairman. This office he
filled for some years.

Most of the public positions he filled in charitable, educational,
business and other organizations during his career are noted in
the paper on Daniel McNeill and his descendants. There were
others, but it seems unnecessary to particularize further as
to any of them here'. The services which he rendered in some of
them will be testified to by the encomiums of colleagues and others
recorded in the following pages; and where there is no such
record we may safely say, Ex uno disce omnes.

The year 1857 was marked by his first visit to Great Britain
since he had left the Old Country as a new-fledged doctor. He
was called there by the serious illness of his brother Fred at an
English port where he had arrived from Leghorn in the barque
" Walton," which he commanded. My father went by the Cunard
Line from Halifax direct to Liverpool about the first of August,
and returned by the same route in October. Mr. J. W. Johnston,
then Attorney-General, and Mr. A. G. Archibald were at this time
in England on their mission to effect that arrangement with the
British Government, the creditors of the Duke of York, and the
General Mining Association in regard to the ungranted mines and
minerals of Nova Scotia by which these were restored to the Gov-

1845 TO 1861 139

ernment of the Province after having been long alienated by virtue
of the lease to the Duke by his brother, George IV., and having
fallen ultimately into the hands of the General Mining Association,
subject to rights which the Duke of York had reserved to himself.
Mr. Johnston had gone over in June, taking two of his daughters
with him. My father met them in Edinburgh, after establishing
his brother, comfortably convalescent, in Liverpool. Thence he
returned to Liverpool to see Fred off for Halifax, and accompanied
the Misses Johnston to London, where their father had preceded
them. There he met Mr. Johnston, Mr. Archibald (afterwards
Sir Adams), and Sir Samuel Cunard, the founder of the steamship
line, who was rendering valuable assistance to the two Commis-
sioners in their business of the mines ; and he himself took some
part, informally, in their deliberations. Thence he returned with
the Misses Johnston to Scotland to show them a little more of the
country, and to renew for a few days more the delightful and
profitable intercourse with his old friend and preceptor, Professor
Simpson, of which the following letter speaks. He has been here-
tofore referred to as Sir James Y. Simpson, but he did not receive
his baronetcy until 1866.

My father, writing from 113 Duke Street, Liverpool, Septem-
ber 25th, 1857, to my mother, says:

" It is now 11 o'clock at night, and I have just made up my
mind to remain for the next steamer. Dr. Davies arrived from
Birmingham this evening, and as Fred is so much better he will be
able to go out by himself, or rather the Johnstons and Davies will
take every care of him, probably quite as good care as I would do
were I with him. Now that I have actually concluded to remain,
I feel quite dejected at being separated from you for a fortnight
more, but I may never be here again, and as I have been so much
tied by my desire not to be long away from Fred I have hardly
been able to accomplish anything beyond getting him here and
spending a few days, most profitably in a professional point of
view, with Professor Simpson, who has been kind to me to an
extreme degree, more like a brother than anything else. He
invited me to take my traps to his house and make it my home
while in Edinburgh. He drove me round to see his patients,
great and small, and introduced me as ' Dr. Parker from America,'
and in such a way as to make them fancy I was a somebody, instead
of an unknown provincial practitioner. He so arranged it that I
should see several important cases, operations, etc., and took me
with him to the Bridge of Allan and other places where he was
visiting patients. He asked me to accompany him to Torquay,
to-day, in Devonshire, to which place he was asked to go by tele-
graph, but thinking then (yesterday morning) that I should be at
sea to-morrow, I reluctantly declined. He made me promise to

140 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

go back and stay with him if anything turned up to prevent me
from leaving. To be thus singled out for such marked attentions
when he was daily surrounded by dozens of medical men from all
parts of the world, is indeed an honor. He wishes to propose my
name as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, which would
be a high honorary distinction, but as the initiatory fee is £50 stg. I
do not feel able just now, at the rate the money goes, to spare it.
So I thanked him most kindly and said I would communicate with
him about it. He arranged a delightful morning for me, when,
accompanied by Mrs. Simpson, we went to see and hear Dr. Liv-
ingstone, the African traveller, at a public breakfast given him in
Edinburgh. Mrs. M., he thinks, will get well, or very nearly so.
Poor Mrs. B., he thinks, will never be able to rejoin her husband."
(These were Halifax ladies.) "When I go back to Edinburgh
with the girls I will find her out, if possible. I cannot tell you
how delighted I was with your letter, my own dear wife. I
received it in Edinburgh last Monday when I joined Mr. Johnston
and Agnes there. To hear that you and your dear infant were
well made me feel grateful to God for His many blessings and mer-
cies to us both since we parted. May He spare us to meet once
more in our dear and happy home, for the comforts of which I
long. Tell my dear boy that Papa was equally pleased with his
little and short letter. Indeed, both yours and his have been per-
used over and over again. . . . P.S. — Poor E. T. has left
this world at last. Well, he, I believe, was well prepared to meet
his God in judgment. What a trying occasion for his poor
bereaved wife — a husband dead, an infant born, events occurring
within a few hours of each other. I wish my poor friend A., now
in Eternity, had thought as long and as deeply on the subject of
his soul's salvation as T., but God is a gracious and a merciful
God, and we will hope that he was pardoned and forgiven. Ask
Dr. Tupper to look after Fred. I would write him, but have not
time. I only made up my mind to stay, to-night. It is now two
o'clock on Saturday morning, and since writing you, my own dear
wife, I have written Dr. Almon and Lady Le Marchant, and as I
was travelling by railroad until one o'clock last night I feel rather
used up and must go to bed.

" Saturday morning.
" The girls leave with me for London at quarter-past four
o'clock to-day. I think we will proceed almost immediately to
Scotland, as there is much there for them to see, and I flatter my-
self I am a good guide for that part of the world. . . . We
are just off for the steamer. Send the accompanying letters also;
a parcel for Gossip in the instrument box. In great haste, my
dear, dear wife, your affectionate husband, D.P."

1845 TO 1861 141

Letters, in part or in full, find place in this narrative not only
for the information concerning their writer's life which they afford,
but because he always put a great deal of himself into his corre-
spondence. To understand any man whose life is worth a record,
to know his mind, his habits of thought, and try to form an esti-
mate of his character, there can be nothing more helpful than his
unstudied correspondence with those to whom his heart was open.
" For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

I have therefore devoted much space to specimens of my
father's spontaneous correspondence with those nearest and dearest
to him ; for the most part, letters hastily thrown off in the scant
leisure of travel. " Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh." Happy is it that though death could lay its hand
upon the mouth that was wont to speak such things as these letters
tell — the reminiscences and incidents of travel, thoughts arising
out of what he saw abroad, and fond expressions of domestic love,
yet these written words of his are preserved to us. In their
perusal, with their many habitual forms of expression, the well-
remembered mannerisms, or way of putting things, we may almost
hear " the sound of a voice that is still."

As an example of this revelation of character by casual letters,
the seemingly unimportant references to two deceased friends, T.
and A., in the preceding letter, reveal the spiritually-minded man
my father had become at the age of thirty-five; thus even these
hastily penned " post-script " remarks become valuable to an under-
standing of what manner of man he was then. In all his corre-
spondence one detects the note of that spiritual undertone which
formed the basis for the harmony of a beautiful life.

To understand the pleasurable privileges extended in 1857 at
52 Queen Street, Edinburgh (a house monumental and even sacred
in the traditions of the profession), to the Nova Scotia doctor who,
as the great Simpson's clinical clerk and favored friend, in the
decade previous, had exalted and revered him for a model and the
Hero-Doctor, a glance at what Simpson now was, and what went
his former pupil out for to see will be worth our while. To under-
stand my father's personal and professional ideals and the work-
ing out of them in his life it is really necessary to read the
biography of Simpson. In reading it I have been led to under-
stand how great was the influence of Simpson's life, his work
and character, upon my father's ; how, unconsciously, no doubt,
the reverent pupil formed himself upon his model, and seemingly
absorbed much of the very spirit of his master.

About this time a medical officer of the Indian Army wrote
thus to the Bombay Telegraph and Courier: —

" Decidedly the most wonderful man of his age — I mean of the age
in which he lives — is Simpson of Edinburgh. In him are realized John
Bell's four ideals of the perfect Esculapius — the brain of an Apollo, the

142 DANIEL McKEILL PARKEK, M.D.

eye of an eagle, the heart of a lion, and the hand of a lady. Nothing
baffles his intellect ,~ nothing escapes his penetrating glance; he sticks at
nothing, and he bungles nothing. If his practice be worth a rupee per
annum, it is worth £10,000 — twice as much as Dr Hamilton ever realized,
and nearly twice the amount of the late Abercrombie's practice. From
all parts, not of Britain only, but of Europe, do ladiea rush to see, con-
sult, and fee the man., He has spread joy through many a rich man's
house by enabling his wife to present him with a living child, a feat
which none but Simpson ever dared to enable her to do. To watch of a
morning with Ms poor patients (them only of course was I permitted to
see) is a treat. In comes a woman with a fibrous tumour, which fifty
other practitioners have called by fifty other names. One minute suffices
for his diagnosis; another sees her in a state of insensibility, and in less
than a third, two long needles are thrust inches deep into the tumour,
and a galvanic battery is at work, discussing it. ' Leave her alone
quietly,' says Simpson, 'she'll take care of herself — no fear.' One up,
another down, is the order of the day. What other men would speculate
as to the propriety of for hours, Simpson does in a minute or two. He
is bold, but not reckless; ever ready, but never harsh. He is prepared
for every contingency, and meets it on the instant. Everything seems to
prosper in his hands. As to ether and chloroform, they seem like invis-
ible intelligences, doomed to obey his bidding — familiars who do his work
because they must never venture to produce effects one iota greater or
less than he desires. While other men measure out the liquids, fumble
about and make a fuss, Simpson in what an Irishman would call the
most promiscuous manner possible, does the job in a minute or two. He
is, indeed, a wonderful man."

When the Queen, whose physician for Scotland he had been
for some time, conferred the Baronetcy, the London Lancet said:
" The conferring of this distinction must give, we think, universal
satisfaction. Sir James Y. Simpson is distinguished as an
obstetric practitioner, as a physiologist, as an operator, and as a
pathologist of great research and originality. His reputation
is European, and the honor is fully deserved. Sir James has
long been foremost in his department of practice, and his name
is associated with the discovery of that invaluable boon to suffer-
ing humanity — chloroform. This alone would entitle him to the
honor he has received."

The special department of practice here referred to was
gynecology and obstetrics — the subjects which he taught in the
University.

A biographer of this grand old man relates that a few days
before his death, in 1870, he said to some visiting friends:
" I have not lived so near to Christ as I desired to do. I have
had a busy life, but have not given so much time to eternal
things as I should have sought. Yet I know it is not my merit
I am to trust to for eternal life. Christ is all." Then he added,
with a sigh, " I have not got far on in the divine life." A friend
said, " We are complete in Him." " Yes, that's it," he replied
with a smile. "The hymn expresses my thoughts:
' Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me.'

I so like that hymn."

1845 TO 1861 143

Does not this sound exceedingly like the religious conversation
and correspondence of another grand old man, who became the
Nestor of Nova Scotia Medicine!

An episode, notable and pathetic, in the history of Nova
Scotia missionary enterprise is connected with this period of
my father's life. I refer to the sending forth by the Presbyterian
Church of the Lower Provinces, as missionaries to the South
Seas, of the heroic brothers, George Nicol Gordon and his
brother James, and their tragic deaths, by which these men became
immortalized among the world's missionary heroes as two of
" the Martyrs of Eromanga." In 1852, and for a few years
afterwards, George was a Halifax city missionary and a student
of Theology in the Free Church College on Gerrish Street.
Campbell, who gives the story of the Gordons in his History
of Nova Scotia, says: "In 1853, Mr. Gordon, whose system
had been predisposed to disease from hard study and the tainted
atmosphere which he breathed in his labors among the poor, was
attacked with typhoid fever. He remained long in a critical
condition, but had the good fortune to be attended by the Honor-
able Dr. Parker, under whose care he recovered. He was con-
fined to his bed for seven weeks, expecting a formidable account
for professional services, but upon application for the account,
received it receipted. The medical faculty require to be well
paid by those who can afford it, for as a body they devote more
time, which is money, to charitable purposes than almost any
other professional class."

As part of his preparation for his foreign missionary work,
George Gordon entered my father's office as a student and
received from him such special medical and surgical instruction
as would be adapted to the needs of a medical missionary, though
rudimentary. From this association of teacher and pupil there
sprang up a deep attachment between tbem. George sailed
for Eromanga in 1856. In May 1861, he and his wife were
murdered by the savages among whom they labored. John
Williams, an English missionary whose work they went to take
up, had been likewise murdered. The brother, James D. Gordon,
when the news of George's death reached home, was studying for
the ministry in the Free Church College under Doctors King,
Smith and McKnight, with the purpose of joining his brother,
and, like him, was doing special work, under my father's tuition,
in elementary Medicine and Surgery. Undaunted by the painful
tidings of his brother's fate, he did not swerve from his de-
termination, but sailed for Eromanga in 1863. There, in 1872,
he likewise perished at the hands of the savage islanders. This
devoted young man, like his brother, was much beloved by him
who, for their work's sake, had freely given of his knowledge

144 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

and his time and strength toward their preparation for service.

The pathos in the story of the Gordons is enhanced by the
circumstances that James, on the eve of his departure from
Halifax, published the fascinating Memoir of his brother and
his brother's wife, entitled " The Last Martyrs of Eromanga."
In the end, he himself suffered as the last martyr. In his book
he thus refers to George's illness and my father's services upon
the occasion to which the historian Campbell alludes, in the
quotation given above.

" At one stage of the disease life was for a time trembling
in the balance. But through the skill of Dr. Parker, whose
assiduous attentions he received during six or seven weeks, he
was restored to wonted health. He arose from his bed a healthy,
strong, in short, a new man. Becoming convalescent, he returned
home, and afterwards requested his physician's bill, which he
supposed could not be less than £10. It was sent, but receipted.
The only eulogium we pass upon this disinterested act of gener-
osity— which is but one out of many — is merely to mention the
fact. Where known, the mention of Dr. Parker's name is his
panegyric."

To " The Last Martyrs of Eromanga " my father contributed
this letter, which I incorporate here as an example of his more
serious style of writing:

" Halifax, April 6th, 1863.
" My Deae Sik, —

" In accordance with your request I have much pleasure in
communicating to you some facts and reminiscences relative to
your deceased brother, my friend and former student, the Rev.
G. N. Gordon.

" My acquaintance with him commenced in the Spring of
1853, when I was called upon to attend him professionally through
a very serious and protracted illness. His health had been
impaired by close mental application, and a daily attendance on
several classes at College throughout the session. Besides which,
I have reason to believe that much of the time usually taken by
students for exercise and recreation, was spent in visiting the
spiritually destitute of our city and its environs. From these
combined causes his system was depressed, and fitted for the
reception of disease, which attacked him in the form of typhoid
fever. So tenacious was its grasp of his weakened frame, that he
was confined to his bed and the house for seven weeks; and for
many days his life was in imminent danger. But, finally, it
pleased the Great Physician gradually to restore him to health and
usefulness.

" God's dealings with those who love and serve Him are fre-

1845 TO 1861 145

quently, to the finite mind, most marvellous. Here was one of His
faithful followers laid low, and placed on the verge of the grave;
yet raised up again by His strong arm to labor for a brief period
in His Vineyard, and then to die a martyr's death far from the
home of his childhood, and youth, and relatives, and friends to
whom he was endeared.

" He lived to originate the Halifax City Mission, and to labor,
I am aware from personal knowledge, as few men know how to
labor, among the poor, the distressed, and the profligate, as its
first missionary. He has passed away, but this child of his affec-
tion and prayers still lives, and is fostered and cared for by Him
who has called the laborer home.

" My next meeting with Mr. Gordon after we had parted as
physician and patient — if my memory serves me — was in his closet.
Having had occasion to visit the house in which he lodged, and
not being aware that he resided there, I was, by mistake, shown
into the room which he occupied. He was on his knees, at mid-
day, absorbed in prayer, no doubt carrying to a throne of grace
the subject of missions, and especially that one for which he was
then, or very shortly afterward, earnestly and successfully laboring.
" Having subsequently offered himself to the Presbyterian
Church of this Province, as a Foreign Missionary, and being
accepted, he desired to acquire some knowledge of medicine before
leaving a Christian for a heathen land, and consequently sought
admission to my office as a student. He was thus occupied, when
not absent from the city — if I mistake not — from the closing
months of 1853, until the period of his departure from Nova
Scotia. Being well aware of the advantages likely to accrue to
the mission by being skilled in the healing art, he assiduously
devoted his spare hours to professional study. It was evident,
however, from the beginning to the end of his attendance that the
salvation of the souls of men, was the primary object and moving
principle of his life. No opportunity was lost of preaching Christ,
or of giving a word of admonition to those with whom he came in
contact. Being ' instant in season and out of season,' he thus,
indirectly, by his continued faithfulness, admonished me of my
own shortcomings in these important particulars. The title —
The Earnest Man — given to the Burman missionary, Judson,
might appropriately be repeated and applied to Gordon of
Eromanga. No one could have known my deceased friend with-
out esteeming him for his many estimable qualities.

" His memory still lives fresh in the hearts of those who were
familiar with his character and life, as also with many of those
who profited by his spiritual advice and scriptural teachings.
1 He being dead yet speaketh.'

" Ever yours truly,
10 "D. McN. Parker/'

CHAPTER V.

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861.

" Qui mores hominum multorum vidit."

— Horace, " Ars Poetica."

In the first months of 1861 nature was threatening to exact
some penalty for the disregard of natural laws in a mode of life
which crowded two or three normal days' labor into one, ignored
anything like regularity in hours for taking nourishment and
sleep, and over-crowded an always active mind with more of
effort and anxious responsibilities than ought to be borne by any
one man. He began to suffer from a tendency to vertigo, derange-
ment of digestion, a nervous exhaustion and an inability to sleep.
In a word, he was upon the brink of physical collapse. Such a
catastrophe was avoided and healthful vigor restored to body and
mind by a brief southern tour, taken at that season of the year
when most people hardly feel like resenting Tom Moore's lines
about " chill Nova Scotia's unpromising strand."

My father had long cherished the hope that some day he might
visit the home land of his grandfather McNeill, find out some
of his mother's cousins there, and make her and himself known
to them. An old friend of his boyhood who has been named at
an early page of this story, Mr. William J. Stairs, agreed to
accompany him, on a similar quest for recreation and for kinsmen
too, — for he had relatives in Georgia. Both were keenly interested
in the extraordinary state of public affairs then prevalent in the
United States, and anxious to study for themselves something of
that tense strain of the political situation which, as it turned out,
they were to see snap the bond of the country's constitution, and
blaze into civil war before their very eyes. Mr. Stairs took with
him his son, the late John F. Stairs, then a lad of about fourteen
years. They sailed from Halifax to Boston on March 23rd, in
the Cunard steamer " Canada," arrived from England, and
returned in the month of May.

The story of this tour, or rather my father's part in it, is
related in the following series of letters, which are presented as
fully as possible. They are good examples of his qualities as a
letter writer. When abroad, it was his habit to inform himself
well concerning what he saw, and of all matters of human interest,
political, industrial, social and religious, in the communities which

146

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 147

he visited. He had the enquiring mind, eager to enlarge his
knowledge of men and things. What he learned, it seemed to be
a labor of love to impart in his home correspondence for the
benefit of his wife, children and others. To this end he took
infinite pains. More directly, too, do his letters disclose that deep,
tender affection for those at home, and home itself, which was so
characteristic of him.

Revere House, Boston,
11 p.m., Monday, March 25th, 1861.
My Dearest Wife:

I arrived here on Sunday night about midnight, but did not
land until 8 a.m. this morning. ... I took some dinner
near Sambro, but before the lighthouse was fairly past I was in
my cabin on the broad of my back. I could not pay Miss Archi-
bald any attention on the passage. Indeed, I left the ship without
saying good-bye to her, but to-night received a note from her
asking me to take charge of her to New York, which I shall do
with much pleasure, especially as we have determined to go on
by the early train to-morrow, the one by which she wishes to go.
. Thank God for bringing me thus safely on. I am better
in health, partook of a hearty dinner, and have just topped off
with an oyster supper preparatory to going to bed. To-day we
visited Ben Gray, some of Stairs' mercantile friends, Mrs. King,
a sister of old Mr. Stairs at Roxbury, the Pryors at Cambridge,
Mrs. Charles Boggs and husband, the latter a son of Sam Boggs,
who married, as you are aware, Mary Keiffe, an old servant of
Mrs. Stairs, and when at their boarding-house saw also William
Fairbanks' son, who was in partnership with a young Greenwood,
in Charman's Buildings. . . . The greatest sight seen here
was Rarey's horse-taming. We went by Mr. Laurie's advice to
hear and see, and were delighted and much instructed. It was
one of the greatest treats I ever had. I would not have missed it
for anything. Thousands were present, and he most thoroughly
tamed two or three wild and vicious animals, making them like
fed lambs. He had on the stage, following him about like a dog,
the celebrated horse " Cruiser," from England, as tame as any
lady's lap-dog. I have telegraphed to Frank to meet us to-morrow
afternoon at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York. We will only
spend a day or two there before pushing on south. I sincerely
trust our dear children are well. I miss their prattle and the
pleasant smile and cooing of the dear babe. I shall expect to hear
all about them from you in a day or two. I am in hopes the dear
little fellow will escape whooping-cough. Tell Johnston and Mary
Ann that Papa does not forget to pray for them that they may be
good, obedient children. I hope all at Belle Vue, the Mount, the

148 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Binneys, at the cottages in Dartmouth, the Tuppers, the Nuttings,
etc., are well. Love to all. Stairs and his boy Johnnie are
delightful travelling companions. God bless and preserve you,
my dear wife.

Ever your afft. husband,

D. McN. Paekee.

5th Avenue Hotel, New York,

March 27th, 1861.
My Dear Wife:

Although the mail does not close for a week by the steamer, I
will drop you a few lines from the great city, and finish the letter
in Philadelphia. I wrote you from Boston by Mr. Seeton, who
leaves to-morrow and will, I hope, be in Halifax Saturday night.
I hurriedly narrated passing events up to Monday night, and now
resume the subject. We left Boston by the 8.30 a.m. train and
with Miss Archibald, and Mr. Samuel Story, formerly of Halifax,
journeyed on over a rough, undulating and apparently barren
country until 5 p.m., when New York was reached. Archibald
met his daughter at the depot, and relieved us of our charge, whom
we have not seen since, but hope to have that pleasure to-morrow.
Mr. A. has been very kind indeed, has given us all the protective
documents necessary to carry us safely through the South, with
the Consular Seal attached, so we hope to return uncropped,
uncottoned and untarred. He has besides given me a letter of
introduction to his friend Mr. Bunck, the British Consul at
Charleston, S.C., the gentleman who a few years since was on a
visit to Sir George Seymour at Admiralty House, and the same
person who was so highly complimented by Lord John Russell in
Parliament the other day for his firm and judicious conduct
during the recent Southern difficulties.

On our way down from Boston I had a long talk with Story,
relative to many Halifax people who have gone to the bad. He
knows them all, and being in good circumstances, with a salary of
£1,000 per annum, has (as I am aware from other sources) been
kind to many of them in distress. . . . How true is the say-
ing, my dearest wife, that one half the world does not know how
the other half live, or what that unfortunate half has to endure,
and how grateful we should be to God that He has so bountifully
provided for the temporal wants of ourselves and of our dear
friends. Truly " the lines have fallen to us in pleasant places."
I telegraphed from Boston to Frank to meet us at our
hotel, and found him on hand looking fat as a seal and in good
spirits. He dined with us and then walked down to our old and
familiar residence, the " St. Nicholas," into which we walked,

THE AMERICAN TOUE OF 1861 149

looked round and rested, for the sake of Auld Lang Syne. Then
we took Stairs into Taylor's to show him the grandeur of the
place. You will recollect the saloon well. We all took dinner
there when passing on to Boston from Philadelphia.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel is immense, gorgeous and comfortable.
It is a marble structure, far surpassing any hotel in the world for
size, comfort and luxury. There are now only 600 guests, times
being dreadfully dull in consequence of the Southern difficulties.
Its capacity is 1,000. The apartments occupied by the Prince of
Wales are finely situated and very elegant. Fortunately, Stairs
and myself have apartments without going up even a single pair
of stairs. Had we been unfortunate enough to have rooms allotted
to us high up, we would have been carried up and let down by a
vertical railway, and thus the fatigue that you and I had to
undergo at the St. Nicholas would have been avoided. It is one
of the oddest things in the world to see the old women in hoops
stowed away in the carriage and hoisted up and down like so many
packages of goods, or baggage.

I have been to-day engaged in looking round as much as the
incessant rain will allow, and transacting what business I had on
hand. To-morrow I must call and see Mrs. and Miss Archibald,
and return the visits of the Medical fraternity, who have kindly
called on me. Several of the great guns, and among them Pro-
fessor Parker, the great surgeon of the city, left their cards to-day
in my absence.

The dull day, and not feeling quite so brisk as I could wish,
make me long for the home circle and the prattling of the dear
bairns, with the cooing of the " Wee 'un." When at home, and
at work morning, noon and night, I was too busy to think very
much of them, but now that I have leisure I miss them dreadfully.
Mr. Le Meissurier, of the Commissariat, who came on
from Halifax with us, has just called up from the St. Nicholas,
where he stays, to tell us that an English gentleman who came out
in the " Canada," called Dacres, had died a few minutes before
at that hotel, most suddenly, from apoplexy. He was alone in
a strange land. I recollect hearing him say, just as we were pass-
ing Boston Light, that he would give a hundred guineas if instead
of going into Boston, we were entering Southampton harbor.
Poor fellow, his case illustrates the truth, " in the midst of life we
are in death." He was a fine, strong, handsome man, about
forty-five years of age.

Staying at the Fifth Avenue Hotel just now are Sir Dominick
Daly, and his son who married Kenny's daughter. . . . Sir
Dominick is here on business, and his son will probably go down
to Halifax by the steamer which takes this letter.

150 DANIEL McNEILL paeker, m.d.

Philadelphia, Saturday. — Before leaving New York I called
to see Mrs. and the Misses Archibald, having on Thursday received
an invitation to spend the evening there. We did not accept it
because we wanted to be free and both of us were fatigued. Mrs.
Archibald and the daughter who came on in the " Canada " with
us were out. We, however, saw the other two girls and Mr. A.,
and when we return we have promised to call again and see my
old patient, who is now enjoying excellent health, I mean Mrs. A.,
who when in Halifax was constantly in the doctor's hands. I
was to have left for this city yesterday at 10 a.m., but the Medical
men and Surgeons of the hospitals sent me word that there was to
be a great operation at the New York Hospital at half-past one
o'clock by Dr. Buck, and I was prevailed upon to remain until
3 p.m., and saw the operation, which was hurried so as to let
me catch the train. It was on a boy of twelve years of age, and
if he lived two hours after I left I should be surprised. Dr. Buck
did not finish the operation for fear he should die on the table.
Such, dear wife, is life among the Surgeons now, in great cities —
death at almost every step they take in these great hospitals.
We reached here at 8 p.m., and are staying at the Continental
Hotel, built and occupied for the first time last year. The
Prince of Wales had apartments in it. It is owned by Paran
Stevens of the Revere House, also the proprietor of the Fifth
Avenue Hotel of New York. I am now going to Gerard College,
Claremont Waterworks and other places visited by us some six
years ago, and shall call and see your cousin James and the
Rev. Mr. Smith, the Baptist minister who remained a night with
us on his way to the Holy Land three years ago.

Saturday Evening — We, this morning, called on Mr. John
Stairs, who is here in partnership with his brother-in-law, Mr.
Kennedy, in the fish business. He is doing well. He is a son
of Captain Stairs, long since dead. After this we went over
the same ground as you and I with the Wilmots and the girls,
visited in 1854, with the exception of the Laurel Hill cemetery

up the Schuylkill River After dinner I had a

long search for your cousin James, but could not find him. He
has recently failed, and only yesterday moved out of the house to
which Charles' letter was addressed. A neighbor living next door
and keeping a small shop, appeared to take an interest in him
and volunteered to hunt him up, and send him to the Continental ;
and he kept his promise, for James has just left me. After I
came up to my room to retire for the night, his name was
announced, and he walked in. Poor fellow, he looks careworn
and thin, and if one is to judge from appearances and apparel,
his finances must be low. He says his partner has deceived and
cheated him, and he fears that the money his mother put into

THE AMERICAN TOUE OF 1861 151

the business will go Altogether, his business

matters are in a sad condition Mrs. Darst, his

sister, is keeping a better class boarding-house. I have promised
to call and see her. James is staying at present with his mother,
while his wife is at her father's in this city, and his children
are scattered about. In passing Chestnut Street to-day, whom
should I pounce upon but your cousin Fanny Matthewson and her
husband. They have been South for his health, which is much
impaired, and in about three weeks they will return to Montreal.
She tells me that he fears he will not be able to continue to live

in Canada After my fruitless search for James

Black, I went and hunted up the residence of Rev. James Hyatt
Smith, who appears to be a well known man of mark here.
He was out, but I saw his wife. We go to hear him preach in
the morning, and have made up our minds to attend " Quaker's
Meeting " in the afternoon, as we are in a land and city of
Quakers.

In Boston we left nearly a foot of snow on the ground, and
brought it on with us nearly to New York, where we said good-bye
to it gladly. The weather is now delightful in Philadelphia.

What a change from Nova Scotia ! It really

appears selfish that I should be so situated while my better half
is freezing in cold and inhospitable Nova Scotia.

Monday Mokning, 7 a.m. I went to Mr. J. Hyatt Smith's
meeting-house yesterday morning, visited the Sunday-school, and
just before the service commenced the pastor came forward from
the midst of the children and asked if I was the person who left
the card for him the night previous. I said I was. " Well," says
he, " My wife was so confused when you spoke to her about meet-
ing me abroad, as she was engaged packing up for moving into
another house, that she forgot to tell you I had never been abroad."
He added, " The Mr. Smith you are in search of is a Smith of
another loaf, and his name is J. Wheaton Smith." You can imag-
ine how annoyed I was at being led into such a wild-goose chase.
I apologized for leaving, and told him I was most anxious to see
the Wheaton loaf, and, unless I took that opportunity, would miss
him altogether. So I got into a cab with Stairs and Johnnie,
and reached the other house, two miles distant, in time to examine
the basement arrangements for Sabbath-school and prayer-meet-
ing, before the service commenced. The church is large, 450
members, and the congregation rich. Mr. Smith was in the
pulpit for the first time for four weeks, having been laid up at
home with a mild attack of smallpox. The arrangements of the
interior correspond with the exterior appearance of the building.
It is beautifully neat, and a large church. Pulpit arrangements
just like ours at Granville Street, and a magnificent organ and

152 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

splendid singing. The pastor looked pale, but he preached,
although weak in body, a beautiful sermon from the text, " What
shall I do to obtain everlasting life," etc. It went to my heart,
was powerful, touching, and eloquent. Some beautiful, practical
sentiments pervaded the discourse, and I felt several times that
it was hard work to keep from weeping. He wields a power that
goes home to the emotional part of man. At its close I stepped
up to him. He knew my face but not my name. When I told
him who I was he was delighted to see me, wanted to take me to
his house, where he said he had three or four spare rooms and a
horse and carriage at my disposal; and he added in his quiet
Yankee style, " I will put you through Philadelphia thoroughly
and in good shape." I declined his offer, however, telling him
that Stairs and I were going South this morning. Dined at two
p.m., then went to Mrs. Darst's, saw her, her mother, little boy,
and James with one of his little children. Spent an hour there.
They appear comfortable. . . . Mrs. D. looks as she did when
in Halifax. The old lady I never saw before. . . . Mrs.
Taylor looks old, but not so much so as I expected to see her.
Foster married her niece, as you are aware.

There being no service in the afternoon, in the principal
places of worship, I remained at home until 7 p.m, and then went
to Quaker's meeting. It was indeed a Quaker's meeting. No
prayer, no praise, no Christ, — except a few observations from a
person belonging to another sect. This large building was one
of the Hickite sect, very large here. The orthodox Quaker
believes in Christ's divinity. The Hickites do not, and look upon
Him only as being a good man. Hence no allusion to Him
by the only Quaker who spoke. It took the Spirit an im-
mense time to move him, and when he rose he sang his words to
a kind of tune familiar to all their speakers. They all sing
rather than speak. It was dead — the dry bones of the valley
remained dry. It was an hour lost to me and all present. I felt
inclined often to rise and speak or pray with them, and, as I after-
wards learned, might have spoken. Prayer in public is not known
to them. It was really laughable to hear the old, tall, dried-up
Quaker singing out an exhortation : " Be livelier, friends, be
stirred up," etc. They were pretty much the same as you are
when I try to wake you up in the mornings. It would take an
earthquake to stir them up and make them " lively." One Quaker
in Philadelphia has been known to run " lively," and that was
when the spirit stirred up a fire in his neighborhood, but he
stopped before he got half a block on his way. Yet I am a
descendant of these same people. I fear that they would look
upon me as a fast descendant.

Matthewson and his wife are going fifty or sixty miles south

THE AMERICAN TOUR OE 1861 153

with us this morning. Mr. M. has asked the Rev. Dr. Jenkins,
Mary Lawson's old friend, of Montreal, now resident here, to take
us through the United States Mint this morning, after which we
are away. . . . My health is now very good, except an occa-
sional fullness of the head. I am able to eat, drink, and sleep,
the latter not so well as I could wish. On the whole, I am thank-
ful to add I am much better than I was when I left, and can now
undergo a good deal of physical exertion without feeling it, or
having my breathing affected. I want to get South and remain
a while in one locality. Relaxation is everything. I must try
and work less if it pleases God to return me to my own dear
home again. I miss you all very much — how much I cannot tell
you. I am most anxious for letters, but as yet cannot get them.
Frank will send them on to our hotel in Savannah as soon as they
reach him, and we will not hear from you before Saturday, per-
haps not then. The change in hotel life since you and I were
here together is somewhat marked in one particular. You will
recollect how much wine was drunk at dinner in those days.
Now it is the exception rather than the rule. Very few take it.
Cold water is the rage. I would like to drink bitter ale, but it
is so awfully expensive I cannot indulge. Just fancy ale 4s. a
bottle, and it is the cheapest drink one can get. Chewing tobacco
is not so fashionable either as it was in our day, although every
provision is made for it, and right under my nose in my room
where I now write is a large spittoon inviting me.

The political question of the day is not much talked of by
strangers — everything is in doubt. What the future is to reveal
is no more known by the residents than ourselves. If you ask a
man about it, if he is a Democrat he will at once say that the
question is settled and the Secession is past and gone, never to
be redeemed, or at all events it will be years before the seceding
States return. While a Republican would tell you that the South
must be whipped into obedience and brought back with a chain
around its neck. Of course these are the extreme views, and we
have no opportunity of learning much that is accurate, from speak-
ing to a few persons in the hotels. My own impression, however,
is that the South is irretrievably gone, and that they are at
this moment, and will be forever, two distinct nations, and it is
much better for all that it should be so. When in the South, or
Slave States, as I shall be in a few hours, I shall be able to look
at the question from another point of view, and study the " divine
institution," as the clergymen there call it, practically.

I must now close this long epistle, my dear wife. Tell the
dear children that Papa constantly prays to God that they may
be good and obedient and preserved in life until we are permitted
to meet again. I hope Johnston is a good boy. Give them all

154 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

kisses from Papa. I long to hear the babe. I only wish I could
have the little fellow in my solitary bed for an hour every morn-
ing. God bless and preserve you, my dear wife.

Ever your afft. husband,

D. McN. Pakker.

Washington, Apr. 3, 1861.
My Dear Wife :

By the steamer which leaves Boston to-day you will get a long
epistle, giving you a hurried outline of our movements up to the
morning of the 1st inst. After breakfast Mr. Matthewson, with
his friend, Rev. Dr. Jenkins, formerly a Methodist minister in
Montreal, but now a Presbyterian, accompanied us to the TJ. S.
Mint, which we saw in all its departments and arrangements.
Copper, silver and gold were being manufactured into coin from
the raw material by thousands of dollars, by machinery the most
beautiful and perfect that I have ever seen in operation. The
mechanical part in its highest and most important departments
is conducted by men, while the less skilled and easier performed
part of the work is accomplished by a whole herd of women and
girls, all receiving at least a dollar a day. I wish that you and
your sisters had been taken through it when we were all here
together. . . . We then visited Dr. Jenkins' church, where
we saw the most complete arrangement for lectures, prayer-meet-
ing, Sabbath-school and Bible-class that one could well con-
ceive. . .

We, in company with Matthewson and his wife, left for the
South in a mid-day train. They accompanied us only as far as
New Ash, in the State of Delaware, where Mr. M. has a cousin
married to a wealthy man, and they were going down to pay them
a hurried visit. Shortly after they left us, we crossed the border
of Maryland, and entered the first slave State. At 4 p.m. we
reached Baltimore and dined, after which necessary operation
we took a walk, although it was dull and rainy. Baltimore is a
city of two hundred or two hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants,
and is well arranged, has fine, substantial public and private
buildings ; but what is to be its most attractive feature shortly is a
most magnificent park situated about two miles from the centre of
the city. This, ever since the country has been settled, belonged,
until quite recently, to a family called Rogers, and by them was
sold to the city. The trees are almost as old as the hills, and some
of them immense. Stairs and I tried to surround one in a tender
embrace, both of us encircling its delicate waist with our arms
together, but we failed by a long distance to make our hands meet,
and this was a common size. This park is about five hundred
acres in extent, and the roads for carriages that are now being

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 155

made will be, I daresay, twenty miles in extent. ... It will
be one of the finest and most interesting places in all America.
We walked in it for a couple of hours, and then returned to the
city by a horse railway (with which Baltimore, Philadelphia, New
York and Boston are now completely intersected) and then
mounted to the top of a beautiful monument erected to Washington
by the State of Maryland. It is of white marble, one hundred
and eighty feet in height, which we gained with lamps in our
hands, after mounting a spiral stone stairway by a dark passage
containing between two hundred and three hundred steps. It
made my breath short and my head dizzy before I reached the
summit. The view was beautiful, commanding, as it did, the
whole city and country for miles around, and far out into the
Delaware Bay.

The Peabody Institute, a white marble building, to cost when
completed one million dollars, was the last object of interest seen
in Baltimore. It is intended for a Public Library and Lecture-
room, a kind of scientific institution for the benefit of the people of
Baltimore. Peabody is a Liverpool, England, merchant, but has
large business relations with the place of his early days, Baltimore,
and has from his immense fortune set aside this sum for this
benevolent and judicious object. It will take some time to com-
plete the structure, but the work is going rapidly on. The public
buildings of all the States we have passed through are fine, even
magnificent, built of freestone, granite and marble, but they
all pale and sink into insignificance when contrasted with
those of Washington, which we have yet to see in their
interior. We walked around and about them yesterday after-
noon and evening, and view them internally in detail to-day.
What strikes a stranger in this country, especially one who
has travelled in England, is the ease with which all kinds and
descriptions of persons can obtain access to all the public buildings
and departments of the country. They belong to " the sovereign
people," and certainly the people take advantage of their oppor-
tunities in this respect. Just fancy for a moment all the grounds
in and around Buckingham Palace, or to descend from great
things to small, around the Government House in Halifax, being
open at all hours to the men, women and children, and the whole
Union, as well as to strangers. Stairs and I walked round the
White House yesterday. Our national unobtrusiveness kept us
from entering the grounds, yet there were men, women and chil-
dren on the walks, romping over the grass and even taking liberties
with the trees, a thing I would not permit even on my estate of
" Beechwood," rough and uncultivated though it is. Such, how-
ever, is the genius of the people, and the freedom and openness of
their institutions.

156 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

The hotels, as we go south, gradually fade and become less
elegant, the class of loungers at the doors and offices becomes more
rough and ungentlemanly in appearance, and there is just now a
look of suspicion, and a desire expressed in their looks to know all
about you, who you are and what your business is, that you do
not observe in the Northern States. The hotels are immense in
size, and the same system is adopted as in the North, in reference
to general management. We generally get rooms adjoining, and
for the most part sit and read and write in our bedrooms, as the
noise and apparent inquisitiveness in the gentlemen's sitting-
rooms are far from agreeable to quiet old fogies like your husband
and his travelling companion. Besides, were we to write down-
stairs in their midst, the probability is that we should have a dark,
long-bearded Southerner looking over our shoulders to see whether
or not we were correspondents of Northern newspapers. Last
night, to avoid the noise and society of the gents below, we ven-
tured into the ladies' drawing-room and, it being a free country,
made ourselves at home; when who should walk in but my old
friend Kellogg, the temperance lecturer, who in days gone by so
often visited Halifax with good results to many poor unfortunate
drunkards. . . . He did not know me, but I knew him, and
walked up to the man and said : " How do you do, Mr. Kellogg ?"
" How do you do, sir," he replied, " I cannot call you by name."
I then told him who I was, and you never saw a man more pleased.
Nothing would do but we must start off at once for a mile's walk,
although it was bed-time, to see his wife and have a chat about
Halifax and Halifax people. . . . Kellogg has turned his
temperance to political effect. About seven years ago he moved
out west to Michigan, and they have now sent him for two terms
from that State to Congress as their representative. Congress is
not now in session. I am sorry for it, as we should have heard
their great guns fire in these days of excitement and warring
words. They closed their sitting two weeks ago. Kellogg is only
remaining here, as he says, turning out the Democrats and putting
in their Eepublican successors for his State.

It is almost impossible for us to glean anything definite as to
the future of this portion of the continent, politically speaking.
In fact, we find it judicious to say little ourselves, and when we do
converse with men of both sides, we arrive at the conclusion that
we know as much about their difficulties and their future as they
do themselves. Every man speaks as he feels, and his conclusions
are based on his political feelings. With their press it is the same.
The Government, as far as I can learn, is undecided and wavering
in its policy. The two Confederacies, as they now stand, remind
me of two schoolboys who are urged on to fight by their com-
panions. " One's afraid and t'other daresn't " ; or like two dogs

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 157

in the street, pretty well matched as to size, they growl, show their
teeth, and in this hostile attitude, each eyeing the other, they back
away to a respectful distance, and then, with their tails between
their legs, give each other leg-bail — both delighted to get out of the
scrape without fighting. Well, I think that is pretty much the
state of things here. It is pretty certain that the old Union cannot
continue, and that the seceding States will not return.

You cannot tell how thankful I am that I belong to a mon-
archical government, and can call the free institutions of old
England mine. Here there is no freedom. Rome, in its worst
days, never coerced freedom of thought and expression as does that
part of creation in which we now travel. But I must stop politics
for the present and go sight-seeing, as Stairs is waiting for me.
I only hope when I get your letters at Savannah, that they and the
accompanying newspapers will bring me cheering news of home
politics and of a dissolution.

4 o'clock p.m. — Well, my dear Fanny, " we've gone and went
and done it " — that is, the sights. Our legs are weary and our
brains muddled with the mixture of everything that is grand,
massive, and elegant in the structures we have this day seen.
While their political institutions are shaking and crumbling, the
marble, the granite and freestone structures that they have reared
are of a character to stand hundreds of years. They have been
erected and internally constructed, not for the United States as
they now are, but for the United States centuries hence. The
progressive growth of a mighty nation was considered as the
architect planned them. But alas for the plans of man and of
nations ! He and they may propose, but God disposes ; and it in
not unlikely that the United States of America ere long may have
to move their seat of government further north, while those great
and magnificent structures may fall into the possession of a
Southern people unworthy of them. To give you even the faintest
idea of these public buildings, either in the general or in detail,
would require a volume. They remind one of the palmy days of
Greece and Rome, both as regards their extent, appearance and
style of architecture. The Capitol alone covers with its massive
masonry between five and six acres of ground. . . . Nothing
in the world can compare with this building of white marble, at
least nothing in England, or anything I have seen or read of;
and all foreigners go away with this same impression. The White
House is large, and also of white marble. We only saw three or
four rooms in it. As the President was engaged and could not
spare the time to-day to come out and shake hands with the sov-
ereign people, we missed seeing him. However, he is not much to
look at, if one may judge from his portraits, and I daresay his
present feelings will make his physiognomy look still less attractive

158 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

than when in the first days of his presidential glories his phiz was
taken by the thousands.

The Treasury, the Patent Office, and the Smithsonian Insti-
tution have all been viewed and examined, very briefly, of course,
as also the magnificent Post Office. It would take a week to
examine the Patent Office alone — I might almost add a month, if
I were of a mechanical turn ; but I think I could do it up, as the
Yankees say, satisfactorily in one week. I have yet to visit the
Washington Asylum for the Insane, which is the model, archi-
tecturally, not medically, of our own at Dartmouth. I expect to
meet Miss Dix there. It is three miles out of the city, and after
dinner I shall drive there. To-morrow we start for Richmond,
Virginia, sailing down the Potomac River thirty miles or more in a
steamer, taking in our route Mount Vernon and the tomb of Wash-
ington. We shall only be able to get a passing view of the Mount,
his place of residence and death, as we must hurry on to the South
and get out of it again before the weather gets too warm. To-day
the sun has been warm and the air delicious. Here the grass is
all green, the foliage coming out, and many trees and plants are
in blossom. What a change from our cold, damp spring in Nova
Scotia! Would that you and the dear children were all here to
enjoy it with me! It would add a thousand-fold to the pleasure
of my journey and sight-seeing. After passing through Richmond
and spending a day there, we go on to Wilmington, North Carolina,
from thence to Charleston, S.C., and finally bring up at Savannah,
Ga., about the first of the week, from which place you will, God
willing, hear from me again. . . . My health, thank God, is
as well as usual. I suffer but little with my head, and sleep well,
although the frequent changes in my sleeping apartments do not
tend to aid me in this particular. ... I hope Tupper and
Charles may drop me a line.

Ever, my dearest wife, your affectionate husband,

D. McN. Parkee.

Spotswood Hotel, Richmond, Va.,
April 5th, 1861.
My Dearest Wife :

Here I am in " old Virginny," very comfortably situated at a
very comfortable hotel, with the weather comparatively mild and
pleasant, the foliage, and vegetation generally, developing itself
more and more each day. The peach and cherry trees are all in
blossom, and this adds to the natural beauty of the country as we
pass along, at the rate of twenty-five miles per hour, getting a
passing but pleasing view and idea of the physical geography of
the country. Before going further I must tell you what I neg-

THE AMERICAN TOUK OF 1861 159

lected to state in my last letter relative to Washington, geographi-
cally and politically considered. Virginia and Maryland, but
mainly the latter, in order to get the seat of the general government
located pretty well south in a slave district, set apart ten square
miles and presented this block of land to the United States for
general States purposes. Subsequently, Virginia, in consequence
of excessive taxation, and no direct advantages accruing to that
State, petitioned Congress to give her back her contribution, south
of the Potomac River, which request was acceded to. So that the
District of Columbia, as this block of land is called, is now situated
in the very heart of the slave State, Maryland. Here all the public
buildings belonging to the United States government are situated,
and when an American speaks of Washington he embraces under
the word the District of Columbia. . . . The inhabitants of
this District have no votes, and no voice in the general affairs of
their nation. The only votes they give are for the municipal
offices, such as our mayor and aldermen, and they are only taxed
for municipal or city purposes. The nation, out of the general
revenues of the country, has built all these magnificent structures
referred to in my last letter. The people of Washington have not
paid a penny towards them, while as an offset for their disfranch-
isement they have received all the benefits that such an immense
expenditure of millions of dollars in their midst would necessarily
bring. Each State in the Union has laws of its own, harmonizing,
of course, except at the present juncture, and on the slave question,
with the general laws of the Union. This District of Columbia,
then, is governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, with which
the laws of the municipal corporation or city must harmonize.
Now, Maryland being a slave State, slavery can exist in Washing-
ton or the District of Columbia, and does to a large extent, although
Maryland, as a whole, does not contain, I believe, more than 84,000
slaves, in fact has the smallest amount of human property of any of
the slave States. The geographical position of Washington, in the
very heart of one slave State, and bounded on the south by another,
Virginia, is likely to be, under the existing state of political affairs,
a very grave question. The people of Maryland and Virginia, I
think, have pretty well concluded to join the Southern Confederacy,
and as a gentleman of this city, highly educated and influential,
told me yesterday, the South must and will have Washington as
their seat of government. At the same time, he stated that they
wanted it only after paying their fair proportion of the expendi-
ture and the money the structures now used by the general govern-
ment cost. This is one of the gravest and most knotty points they
have to settle ; and to use the words of my friend, it is not improb-
able that this one question may involve the country in war and
bloodshed. The North, of course, will not care to yield up the

160 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

millions upon millions that they have expended from that section
of the Union for these great public works, without a struggle, —
works that they have always looked upon as the pride of their
country and as indicative of their country's greatness and power,
leaving out of the question their magnificence and grandeur as
works of art.

Before passing to my journey from Washington to this place
I will just inform you that in this capital (Richmond) at present
the Legislature is in session, and there is also in session what is
termed a State Convention, composed of men from all sections of
the State. They are now debating the momentous question of the
day. The general feeling of the State, from all I can learn, is
in favor of secession, still being, for the most part, conservative in
their views. They do not wish to act hastily or to give other
sections of the country the idea that they are acting without due
deliberation. A few weeks ago the city was entirely for Union,
but a very significant fact occurred the day before yesterday which
conveys an idea of the change that is taking place throughout the
State. A Secession and a Union man ran for the office of Mayor
of the city. The former beat his opponent by over 1,200 majority.
This revulsion of feeling has taken place within a few weeks. The
United States Government were prevented from removing guns
that they had contracted for with an iron foundry company in
Richmond, and the Legislature purchased them from the con-
tractors for State purposes. Besides, Virginia is now refitting at
its own expense military positions formerly occupied by United
States troops ; and within a gunshot from where I am writing they
are fitting up an armory and a large foundry for the manufacture
of cannon and small arms, — which localities are garrisoned by
Virginia militia. The State is evidently preparing for war, and
unless President Lincoln disavows the Republican principles on
which he was elected, and the laws on the statute book of many of
his Northern States are modified, Virginia will be out of the
Union. This he cannot do, and the North will not permit it, if
Lincoln was so disposed. So I take it for granted from the signs
of the times that "old Virginny" will secede, not in a hurry, but in
the end with certainty, and, she being the keystone of the arch, as
she moves, so will Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee and North
Carolina. These being added to those States now composing the
Southern Confederacy, will make such a powerful nation that the
North will be helpless to regain them by conquest. I find a large
number of the Democratic party of the Northern States entirely
sympathize with the South. Their business was largely with
Southern men, their pockets have been touched, and they feel, and
express themselves in the strongest terms, in favor of the Southern
movement and in hostility to Lincoln. The very general Demo-

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 161

cratic feeling in the North renders Lincoln's administration power-
less to reconquer by arms the seceding States. My impression is,
it will be better for both parties, the country, other countries, and
for humanity that a peaceful resignation of the Southern States
should be made by the North, and I only hope and pray that this
may be the finale of the matter.

You must excuse me, my dear wife, for writing and boring
you so much at length about United States politics, but I know
your father and others will like to hear from the seat of war what
is going on in these troublous and eventful times.

Stairs, Johnnie and I started from Washington yesterday,
April 4, at 6 a.m., embarked on board a large steamer, and sailed
down the Potomac River 50 miles to Aquia Creek, where we took
the train for Richmond. The Potomac is a beautiful, broad river,
with fine bold scenery on both its shores. . . . We saw, as
we passed along, Washington's house and tomb at Mount Vernon.
It would have been pleasant could we have landed for half an hour
or more. Our journey terminated for the day at this place
between 2 and 3 o'clock. When paying my fare on board the
steamer I heard one of the passengers say he was from North
Carolina. I asked him if he knew anything of Fayetteville (where
my grandfather McNeill came from). He said he did not, but
that there was a gentleman on board from the very place, and he
introduced me to him. I find that the McNeills at Fayetteville
and in its neighborhood are as thick as blueberries, and, as he
expressed it, " they are all fine, responsible people." I learned
from him how I was to reach the place, and to-morrow morning
we start for Raleigh, the capital of the State, and then travel 60
miles through the country by stage coach to Fayetteville, from
which place we take steamer down a river to Wilmington, and
thence go south to Charleston and Savannah. This will, of course,
delay our progress to the most southern part of our journey, but we
are pretty certain to reach Savannah during next week, when we
hope to receive the much-thought-of and longed-for letters from
home.

Immediately after dining we sauntered out yesterday to look
at the place and the lions. The Capitol, or place where the Legis-
lature meets, is old and unworthy of remark. One of the senators,
or Lords, who had bolted his dinner and returned to the Senate
room before his colleagues, was stretched out on a sofa asleep, with
his boots off, his heels in the air, his head shaggy and uncombed, —
altogether the most perfect parody on " otium cum dignitate," as
the Latin has it, that I have ever witnessed. Just fancy the old
gentleman, the Hon. W. A. Black, M.L.C., stretched off in that
style !

The centre of attraction for both ladies and gentlemen appeared

162 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

to be the Mechanics' Institute, where the State Convention already-
referred to was in session. Thither we bent our steps and heard
a few short, spicy speeches from some very old and some very
young men. The Lincoln government appeared to be the target
and the Union got heavy blows. One old grey-headed man, appar-
ently a Union man, went into it strong. I lost the sense, owing to
the noise, but could hear such expressions as " the gates of hell "
and " the husband of the devil " coming from the old fellow's lips.
I came away impressed with the belief that they wanted leading
minds to direct them, and dignity of demeanor and language, to
carry weight and influence with their deliberations. Our Legis-
lature, bad as it is (don't wound the feelings of Mr. Johnston and
Tupper by repeating in their presence the foregoing words), would
impress a stranger, especially an Englishman, most favorably, when
contrasted with the deliberative body under consideration.

In front of the Capitol is a beautiful monument erected to
Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry and other great men who
took part in the eventful struggle of 1776, men of this State. You
will recollect reading in the Christian Messenger, a few weeks
since, the soul-stirring defence of three Baptist ministers who were
on trial here years ago, made by this same Patrick Henry. They
were imprisoned and tried " for preaching the gospel of Jesus
Christ." Henry's statue is indicative of just such a man, and his
broad, high forehead and striking features would at once point him
out as a man, not massive in body alone, but in mind — a man with
a great and good soul.

Richmond is beautifully situated on hill and dale, with streams
of water running through it, and is largely engaged in manufac-
turing flour, tobacco, iron, cloth, etc., etc. We went through a
flour mill which manufactures about 1,400 barrels of flour a day;
that is, takes in the wheat, grinds it, barrels it and has it all ready
before night to ship ; and there are many such mills, all driven by
water power from the James River. An immense quantity of
tobacco is grown and manufactured in this State. In one of the
London docks there are warehouses covering thirteen acres used for
tobacco alone, and the greater part of this is derived from the ports
of this State and other United States ports which ship the weed
of Virginia. Iron and coal exist in inexhaustible quantity in the
mountain districts, and altogether it is one of the richest States in
the Union, both in what we would term natural resources and in
human beings held as property. The slaves of Virginia amount
to about 500,000.

Raleigh, "N.C., April 6th, '61. — We have advanced thus far,
having left Richmond at 3 p.m. yesterday and remained all night
at a station in the pine forest in this State, near the Roanoke River,
called Weldon. We reached Weldon about nine o'clock, and after

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 163

dark were constantly reminded of a picture in the London Illus-
trated News — of a black boy with a pine torch stopping the train.
You will see it in that paper of some date about February. I was
very much amused at one little fellow stopping the train with this
bright, glaring flame, the torch being as large as himself, and no
place visible. All he wanted to send south was two bags of small
live pigs, tied up, kicking and squealing as they joined us. When-
ever these torches appear on the line the train must stop, for they
frequently appear to warn of danger. We wandered about Wel-
don, the banks of the Roanoke, and under the tall pine trees, talk-
ing to " niggers," as they are here designated, about rattlesnakes,
fishing, planting, etc., and in this way passed two or three hours
pleasantly until the arrival of the Northern train, which we
joined, and left again at this place. Raleigh is a small place, the
capital of North Carolina. It has a fine Capitol, or building cor-
responding to our Province Building, an asylum for the insane,
and an institution for the deaf, dumb, and blind, combined under
one roof. As we walked through the latter this afternoon I unex-
pectedly pitched upon a document containing my name, viz., the
report of the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Halifax. Mr. Hutton
had forwarded it to Mr. Palmer, the principal of this Institution.
This, of course, was a kind of bond of friendship, and we became
communicative. He is a Baptist, and nothing would do but we
must go and examine a beautiful church structure erected here
by our denomination, and only recently opened. We were
much pleased with its internal beauty and arrangement.
. The basement of this chapel is not only for Sunday-
school teaching, but in the afternoon it is used as a place
of worship for the black Baptists. The everlasting Divine
Institution extends even into the house of God. There, as
in the outer world, the white man is separated from his
darker brother. In Heaven, however, the skin will not by its
color draw a line of demarkation between brethren in Christ. All
denominations err alike in this particular. I find this tender
ground to touch on, even with my brethren in the Church, with
whom I am in the habit of speaking pretty plainly on all subjects.
But here it is well to be guarded. So I merely glean facts, for
information's sake, draw my own conclusions, keep up an ever-
lasting thinking and say but little. I find here, as in Virginia, the
popular voice is for secession. Nearly every man we meet
broaches the subject to us, as Englishmen, and talks freely.
Within the last two days we have conversed with many men, on
railways, by the wayside, and at hotels, and not one declared him-
self for " The Black Republic." Even as I write, one of the
natives is haranguing Stairs on the advantages of secession and
the duty of North Carolina in the present crisis. A few days

164 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

since some young men here hoisted the Secession Flag, and, being
armed with revolvers, surrounded the staff on which it proudly
floated, to defend it if it should be attacked. None dare come
boldly up from the front, but from a hidden spot a rifle was fired
at the flag. The Union man was hunted out from his hiding-
place and ran for his life, escaping a dozen shots which were fired
at him as he bolted. The crowd saved him. The men who in the
capital of North Carolina thus hoisted the rebellious flag were
gentlemen, as our informant stated. They kept it flying for an
hour and a half after sunset, and then in force walked down to the
" Palace " at the foot of the street, where the Governor of the
State resides, and with the flag in their hands gave three hearty
cheers for his Excellency.

It is strange how one pitches upon friend's friends when far
away from home. Just as I had written our names in the hotel
book, a gentleman who was examining the book asked if we were
from Halifax. We replied in the affirmative, when he asked if
we knew Mr. Mulholland and Dr. Donald. I told him I knew
them both, and the latter intimately. We were at once on friendly
terms, and our new acquaintance, Mr. Agnew, from Belfast, Ire-
land, many years since, but now a resident of this State and an
out-and-out believer in the Divine Institution and Secession, haa
been most kind and attentive.

Sunday Afternoon. — Early this morning we went to the Bap-
tist Sabbath-school, expecting to see a large collection of children,
but the day being a little wet only a few boys came out. The
pastor was absent and there was no service. We attended service
in the Presbyterian church, but there was only a handful of people
out. I thought we of Granville St. church were afraid of storms
unnecessarily, but the church-going people of Kaleigh are still
more " fair-weather Christians " than those of Halifax. It was
only a Scotch mist, yet they called it a rain-storm and the parson
prayed for those that had been detained at home by the " inclement
weather." I wish they could see and feel a snow or rain storm in
Nova Scotia in March ! It has been altogether a dull day for me.
At the Southern hotels there are no rooms for gentlemen who leave
their wives at home, and one is compelled to sit in the common
sitting-room, where are collected all kinds of men from the city,
as well as the guests of the house, and they are talking of nothing
but politics and " niggers." To get rid of this, Stairs and I took
our umbrellas after a one-o'clock dinner and walked out into the
country; and had it not been raining we would have had a
pleasant afternoon of it. We struck the pine forest, and taking
a path which was before us, followed it for some distance. We did
not meet with any snakes except a dead one, which some son of
Eve had killed a short time before.

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 165

A traveller who loves his home and his own fireside misses
those dear to him more on the Sabbath than on any other day;
at least, it is so with me, and I would give much just to pop in on
you in your quiet, cozy little room upstairs, and take my usual
lounge on the sofa, chatting with you and the older bairns, and
bearding the poor dear baby. With God's blessing I will in three
weeks or a little more be able thus to amuse myself in my very
happy home.

Stairs is an exceedingly well-informed man, well read in his-
tory and on general topics, and altogether a most agreeable com-
panion. His son is a very nice and, at times, a very amusing boy.
It is very evident he has been well brought up. I do not know
how I would have got on without them. It would have been ter-
ribly dull work to travel all this distance without a companion.
I feel now as well as usual, can take exercise freely without fatigue,
and my head gives me but little trouble. How grateful to God I
should be for His goodness to me, dear wife. I very well know that
had I remained at work in Nova Scotia at this trying and inclem-
ent season, I should have completely broken down in health.
God's goodness to me in furnishing me with the means to seek
health abroad should always be remembered with thankfulness.
How many professional men are there whose health breaks down
under their incessant labors, and who die for want of such relaxa-
tion, not being able to afford the expense of going abroad !

In our walk we passed the house of the Baptist minister, Rev.
Mr. Skinner, and there saw verbenas growing in the open air.
This gentleman is, in a pecuniary point of view, a lucky Baptist
parson, for he is worth £25,000, has a large and elegant establish-
ment, and his " nigger fixin's " are the neatest and most comfort-
able I have seen as yet — that is, the houses for his niggers. All
proprietors of slaves have the residences of the latter near them,
generally in small houses in the rear and on one or both sides of
their own residences.

There is a Judge Alden, of Vermont, staying here for the
health of his daughter. He is an abolitionist and Unionist.
While chatting before the fire last night, he said he had come to
the same conclusion on the secession question that I have, viz.,
that ere very long Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland and Kentucky
would join the South. Personal observation, in mingling with
the crowd as we are doing, has fixed this belief unwillingly upon
him. He further added that he, for one, would like the Northern
States and his own Vermont to go back to England and her free
constitution and government. This gentleman is at present a
judge of the Supreme Court, and when a man in his position
speaks out in this style, you may depend there are many others

166 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

who think as he does on this matter. The judge is a friend of
Carteret Hill's, having frequently met him in Boston.

Monday morning, April 8. — You will recollect a Mr. Green-
wood's panorama of Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress " which was
exhibited in Halifax a year or two ago. He, his wife and son
are staying here just now, and last night, learning that we were
from Halifax, he came and introduced himself to us. I recollect
his face very well. . . . He asked me if I knew Judge
Wilmot, of Fredericton. I told him he was my brother-in-law,
and he then stated that he had been trying to immortalize the
judge and his gardens, having just delivered a lecture to the Fay-
etteville people in the Baptist church there, which lecture was
largely taken up with Wilmot, his gardens and Chinese lamps,
and the two happy occasions when he was permitted there to take
part in fetes given to the Sabbath-school children of Fredericton.
He wished to be remembered to the judge and also wanted Allan
to know that he was making him known to the Southerners — so
that should he come South at any time he will not be likely to be
tarred and feathered. ... I am going with Mr. Palmer to
the Asylum for the Insane, having had a most interesting morning
with the blind and the deaf and dumb. I leave at 5 o'clock p.m.
for Fayetteville.

Ever, dearest wife, with love and kisses to the children, Yours,

D. P.

Fayetteville, IST.C,
Wednesday, April 10th, 1861.
My Dear Wife :

I left Raleigh shortly after mailing my letter there for you, in
the mail coach for this place, in a rain-storm. Stairs and Johnnie
remained there until yesterday, and then took a train for Wil-
mington. Of all the roads I ever travelled, that between Raleigh
and this place is the worst. Several times we got our wheels into
a deep rut, and the other three inside passengers and a
" nigger " on the box, with your husband, would all have
to huddle together on the opposite side, and hold on, to keep
the coach from toppling over. A lady passenger with us
was terribly frightened, as the same driver upset the coach with
her in it, in the night, when, a short time before, she was going
up to Raleigh. But the last fifteen miles were terrible. In this
State some years ago a number of speculators built a plank road
on this as on many of the roads, which was a kind of toll road. It
proved bad stock, and when the first planks were out or got dis-
placed, for want of dividends they were not renewed, and you
can readily imagine the jumping and pitching there would be
under such circumstances. A young lady sat opposite me. Some-

THE AMERICAN TOUK OF 1861 167

times our heads went upward to the roof, sometimes fore and aft,
as sailors say, and we found ourselves almost butting, like sheep
and goats. For a youngster it would have been grand sport, but
for a staid old fellow like myself, half asleep, it was rather
unpleasant. So I just pulled my fur cap well down over my eyes,
to protect my forehead from the concussion, should it come, and
in this way, with feet braced, stood prepared for the repeated
shocks. At length daylight came, and with it Fayetteville in the
distance, and the long pine forest was left behind. At half-past
six a.m. I was deposited at my hotel — rather sore, sleepy and tired.
As soon as breakfast was over I commenced an attack on the clan
McNeill, but met with nothing but disappointment until about
11 o'clock. Every person I went to turned out to be the wrong
man, and many from whom I might have obtained information
relative to Captain McNeill's relations were absent on a railway-
extension excursion (the opening ceremonies of a new railway).
Parson McNeill, Sheriff McNeill, and the President of one of the
banks, from whom I expected much, were thus engaged and could
not be reached. At length the old inhabitants were thought of.
Col. McRae being one of them, I went to him, and he referred me
to one David Torrance, an old Scotchman who lived about a mile
out of town, who was born some time after the flood and has a
reputation of remembering everything that had occurred since
that unhappy occasion. I found the old gentleman at home
and broached the subject by saying that I was in search of the
descendants of a Loyalist officer called McNeill who was a native
of North Carolina, but who had settled in Nova Scotia at the
close of the war. He looked at me for a moment and promptly
replied: "You are a descendant, then, of Dan'l McNeill who
came on here on a visit from Nova Scotia in 1809." He then
commenced like a 40-horsepower steam engine, beginning with
Archie Ban and Janet Ban (Ban meaning, in Scotch, fair or light-
complexioned), by which soubriquet Capt. McNeill's parents were
known — and he ran on (there was no such thing as stopping him)
and gave me the names and the descendants of all my great-uncles,
brought them down to the small fry, and I did not know but that
he was going into the future, to name generations yet to be born —
and there being a partially colored lady present, his daughter, I
flushed, and boldly came to the charge by saying, with my note-
book in hand : " Now sir, to become practical and get at the pith
of this matter, give me the names of Daniel McNeill's nearest
living relations." He looked posed when he viewed the pencil and
book, but at length gave me the names of three or four of my grand-
father's nephews and nieces, and informed me that they all lived at
McNeill's Ferry, twenty-five miles from this place. Ascertaining
that I had been in Edinburgh and knew something of Scotland,

168 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

he was about to take up the history of that country from the time
the dove of the Ark lighted on Ben Lomond or Ben Nevis, as these
intensely Scottish men will almost affirm, when I took up my hat,
and with hurried and heartfelt thanks to the old man for the
information, soon gave him a parting look at my coat-tails round
the corner. In an hour more I was behind a splendid two-horse
team, with a nigger driver, on my way to Col. McNeill's, as he
is called in these parts. On the road, when about fourteen miles
from here, I saw a very old white lady standing at her door, so I
pulled up to ask her the nearest way to a plantation owned by the
widow of a first cousin of my mother. She told me, and I was about
to drive on, when the old lady, guessing I was a stranger, from my
appearance and speech, asked me several questions and gleaned
from me that I was a descendant of Captain McNeill's. " Oh
dear, oh dear — Dan'l McNeill, Dan'l McNeill!" I feared she
would go off — or would take on — after the style of my friend Davy
Torrance, so I gave the word to go on. The old lady stopped me,
and what question do you suppose she asked me? She only
wanted to know if I was married ! I told her I was, and that I
was the happy father of an increasing family, when she said : " I
didn't know but what you were going a-courting, for there are some
fine gals down there, mighty rich, and Miss McKay is a great
belle. They are all very clever people, and though I'm now poor
and they are mighty rich, they treat me very sociable like." In
this style she was going on when I left her abruptly, feeling rather
flattered that a man of thirty-nine should be taken for a boy going
a-courting. I afterwards learned that in my grandfather's day
she had been in good circumstances and he knew her very well as a
neighbor. About the spot where I sat talking to the old woman,
sixty years ago resided my grandfather's brother John — " Cunning
John," as he was always called, and although long since dead he is
still remembered and spoken of by this soubriquet, in consequence
of the active part he played in these parts during the Revolutionary
War. He was a leading Loyalist and effectually carried the war
into the enemy's camp, and could never be conquered or taken.
The enemy named him Cunning John, and old Davy Torrance,
when he began to name over my great-grandfather's children,
headed the list by saying: " There was Cunning John, he," etc.,
etc.

I pulled up at the Colonel's, Archibald S. McNeill, son of
Neill McNeill, my grandfather's brother, and ascertained that our
cousin Archie was attending a funeral at some neighboring plan-
tation. I then asked if there were any young ladies in the house,
or if there was a Mrs. McNeill to be found. The dark portress
replied : " Young Missus away. Missus is to home." " Tell her
I want to see her," said I. So in a few minutes a young-looking

THE AMERICAN TOIR OF 1861 169

lady of thirty-four or thirty-five walked in. I introduced myself
as a relative from Nova Scotia by the name of Parker. She said
she knew the Colonel had relatives " out there/' but neither he nor
she knew their names before. She was very cordial, sent half a
dozen niggers after half a dozen more to go for the foreman to see
that my horses and servant were attended to, told me her history
and everything she knew of the McNeills, which was not much
beyond those who were settled near their own estate. She said she
was the Colonel's second wife. Her first husband, a lawyer, died
and left her with two children. The Colonel, she said, fell in love
with the children and married the mother. Her son and daughter,
with a daughter of McNeill's, were away in a distant part of the
State at school. We chatted away for an hour, when I walked out
to find the foreman and get all the information I could relative
to their mode of managing a large plantation in North Carolina.
As I walked past the small houses of the slaves, any quantity of
small niggers came out and followed me like so many little dogs,
and piloted me to where the foreman was engaged with a working
gang. I heard the people calling him Mr. Parker, so I introduced
myself to him as his brother by Adam, our common father, and
we soon fraternized, but not before I told him I was a relative of
the Colonel's. I daresay he took me for one of those " tarnal
'bolishionists " and nigger stealers, a conductor of the underground
railroad, or something of the sort. So much for having a Blue-
nose countenance. The ice soon melted when he found out where
I was located and that his little niggers were safe. I then put
him through a pretty strict examination on agriculture as practised
down here. At length I came to the item of stock, when I was
informed that they had seventy head of niggers, over one hun-
dred head of pigs, more than one hundred head of cattle, eight
or ten mules and about as many " hosses." It is a common thing
here to speak of negroes in this way, especially among the blacks
themselves. The " free nigger " that drove me, when I asked
how many slaves the Colonel had, told me he guessed " between
sixty and eighty head." I also learned that our friend McNeill
had three plantations, on one of which he, the overseer, had
already planted this year three hundred acres in Indian corn,
besides other things. The field hands were then engaged in
preparing' ground for cotton. Eight or ten ploughs were running
in close pursuit of each other through the sandy soil of one large
field. The soil being light and sandy, one mule or one horse could
almost run away with the little bits of ploughs they used for
cotton culture. On this gentleman's plantation, besides corn and
cotton, they grow largely wheat, oats, sweet and common potatoes,
rice and all kinds of fruit such as we meet with in northern
latitudes. You see large apple orchards. Pears, plums, and

170 DANIEL McNEILL PABKEK, M.D.

peach groves are abundant. In short, there is nothing that I know
of that will not grow in North Carolina. After pumping my
namesake almost dry and finding out that he knew a thing or two
about managing a plantation, and especially niggers, I returned
to the house and waited for McNeill to come home. At length
he came in, and I commenced the attack as agreed on by his better
half and myself. " Well, Colonel, who am I ?" " Don't know."
" My name is Parker." " Never had the pleasure of seeing you
before." " I am your cousin." " Indeed !" His open counten-
ance became more open; he smiled and said he was puzzled.
Then I told him all about our relationship. He recollected my
grandfather very well, although he was very young when my
grandfather finally left North Carolina, and says that the impres-
sion left on his mind by the appearance of the man has never been
removed. His recollections of him are, that he was slight, rather
tall, with great energy and fluency of speech — a man for action
and much beloved. In proof of his being a favorite I find that the
name of Daniel McNeill is borne by any number of his relatives
and friends; and one of his grand-nephews, a son of the late Dr.
McKay, to whom I was introduced, is called Daniel McNeill
McKay. He, Colonel McNeill, was delighted to see me, hoped
that I had come to spend a long time with them, and with true
Southern hospitality made me welcome. I at once felt as if I had
known the man all my life. He is a well-educated and most intelli-
gent man of about fifty-five years of age, well known throughout
this part of North Carolina. When I told the proprietor of the Fay-
etteville hotel where I put up that I had got hold of the right
McNeill at last, he said : " Wal, sir, the Colonel is a mighty fine
man, a fust-rate man. I've only one fault to find with him — he
is a Tory." The name Tory still sticks to the old Loyalists and
their descendants, especially to the descendants of those who bore
arms against the Americans in the Revolutionary struggle. Of
the sons of my great-grandfather all took a most active part on
behalf of the king and mother country but one, who was at the
time sheriff of the county and did not live near enough to his
father to be much under his influence, else, as the Colonel observed,
he too would have been a Tory. As it was he remained neutral,
and became the receptacle of all the valuable documents, deeds,
mortgages, etc., of this part of the country, for both sides; and
when peace was declared he was mainly instrumental in saving
the property of his loyal relatives and friends from confiscation.
The intermarriage of the McNeills with families who took the
opposite side of the question also materially aided in bringing
about this satisfactory result. To show you how attached the
relatives of my grandfather were to him, and how they respect
his memory — the Colonel has now in his possession a military

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 171

coat, or rather jacket, which the old gentleman wore during the
struggle and in which he was probably twice wounded. It waa
handed down to the Colonel, I presume, by his father. Nothing
would do but that I must try it on. I found it tight in the arms
and too narrow across the chest, so that I presume he must have
been in early life rather slight. Nothing would induce the Colonel
to give it up. They are all fond of military relics, and my grand-
father appears to have been greatly beloved. His brother Hector,
also in the king's service, a major, I think, a very brave, dar-
ing man and a great thorn in the sides of his rebel country-
men, does not appear to have been so great a favorite. The Colonel
mentioned to me one scene especially where this Hector, then a
junior officer, after his seniors had been slain, led his men on to
victory in such a way that all the old people here talk of him and
his conduct yet, and I have several times been asked if I was
Hector's grandson or descendant. His children and descendants
were out of my track and I did not see them. One of them,
Dr. Wm. M. McNeill, lives on a plantation only a few miles from
the Colonel's.

I arrived at McNeill's Ferry Tuesday afternoon, and after
an early breakfast next morning the Colonel took me in his
carriage across Cape Fear River to see his only sister, Mrs. Dr.
Turner. The crossing was rather exciting as the river was much
swollen by the recent rain, but the colored ferrymen, who are his
slaves, managed the broad barge admirably, and we at length
landed safely on the other side. The horses stood as quietly in the
barge as if they had been in their stables, while the men labored
against the rapid current, making as much noise as they possibly
could. In fact it is the hardest thing in the world for them to
do any kind of work in silence. They talk about the mercurial
Irishman. I'll pit a Southern nigger against the son of the sod
any day, for mercurialism. We found Dr. Turner, his wife,
daughter, daughter-in-law and son-in-law (Mr. and Mrs. Spears)
awaiting our arrival, as a messenger had been dispatched to tell
them to be on hand to receive their Nova Scotia cousin. They
also were pleased to see me and wanted me to remain and go over
the country with them to see the rest of the clan. The next
plantation belongs to the estate of the late Dr. McKay, or rather
to his son Daniel McNeill McKay, and the " mightly rich belle,"
who live here with their stepmother, Cousin Bell, as the Colonel
calls her. Dr. McKay's first wife was Mary McNeill, my mother's
cousin, and his second wife, " Cousin Bell," was her sister. The
Doctor married her not long before his death — the second sister.
She is now eighty-six years of age, and she and her nephew and
niece, or, I may also add, step-children, live here together happily.
Cousin Bell, or Mrs. McKay, and her sister Mary, the first

172 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

Mrs. McKay, were the children of my grandfather's only sister
Margaret.

We returned to dinner at the Colonel's, and after inviting them
all to visit us in Nova Scotia, I harnessed up and drove back to
Fayetteville. The Colonel says we must not be surprised if
unexpectedly some fine morning Halifax is startled by the sight
of a regiment of McNeills marching up its streets to our house,
and when the startled citizens ask what is the matter, they will
be told it is only the clan McNeill of North Carolina down on a
visit to their Nova Scotia cousins. I have told him we will hire
the officers' barracks to accommodate the regiment when it arrives.

The drive to McNeill's Ferry is through a pine forest of
great beauty and value. It is the species of pine which yields all
the turpentine or resin for which this State is famous, and I
made myself familiar with the whole process of obtaining and
manufacturing these articles of commerce, from tapping the tree
until the product is landed in Wilmington for exportation. On
McNeill's property the timber alone is worth a number of fortunes.
Magnificent pines, oak, ash and all kinds of trees used here are
there in abundance, and on that part of his plantation where his
cornmill is situated, he has a fine sawmill in active operation,
preparing timber for the Wilmington market. This he sends
down the Cape Fear Eiver in immense rafts, with a party of slaves
who have been long engaged in the business and are thorough
raftsmen. The distance to Wilmington is about 150 miles.
It is an interesting sight to see these long rafts floating rapidly
down stream with a cheerful fire of pine knots placed on a little
heap of earth in the centre. The men with their tents, and cheer-
ful, happy faces, are singing as they pass along, making one almost
envious of their happy vocation.

On board steamer North Carolina on the Cape Fear Eiver,
Thursday, April 11th, 1861. — I found Fayetteville rather hot
and excited last night in consequence of warlike reports from
Charleston. North Carolina is gradually progressing towards
secession. It is openly avowed, and public secession meetings
are now being held by its leaders in various parts of the State.
Secession flags are flying from private houses, and the young men
are openly walking the streets with Secession ribbons flying from
the sides of their hats, and rosettes attached thereto as badges,
indicating in the most open way their opinions. My relatives,
the McNeills, etc., as well as a very large proportion of the men
of property in this part of the State are conservative in their views,
and wish to hang on to the old flag, but the Colonel says if the
North fires a single gun, or attempts to coerce the South in any
way, although elected as a Union man to represent his country
at a contemplated convention of the State, he and every man

THE AMERICAX TOUR OF 1861 173

holding his views will at once coalesce with the opposite party,
and join the State to the Southern Confederacy. And such a
course as would produce this result as regards Xorth Carolina
will have the same result on the other border States, Virginia,
Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee. At Fayetteville there is
the largest arsenal in the Southern States. The United States
have there now more than 100,000 stand of fire-arms (rifles, etc.),
besides heavy artillery, gunpowder, shot and shell in great abund-
ance. Xorth Carolina says to the President and his Govern-
ment : " You shall not take a single gun from this arsenal.
It belongs to our State, and we intend to keep these arms and
munitions of war to meet any emergency that may arrive." And
the Xorthern government is so weak that it cannot take a bold,
aggressive position. The United States government paid millions
of money for this arsenal and what it contains, and now one of
the weakest States in the Union sets that government at defiance
and tells it " We intend to keep what you have paid for and placed
in that arsenal." Verily the glory hath departed from the Stars
and Stripes. A few months ago they were strong to all appearance,
and perhaps as regards foreign nations, were a year since practi-
cally so. But to quell internal commotion and rebellion the
United States government is as helpless as a child, and the
veriest brat she has and calls a State doubles up its fist and
hits its mother in the face, tumbles the old lady helplessly over,
and there she lies, weak and enfeebled, knowing not which way to
turn or what to do to ward off similar blows from other quarters.
A large standing army and an efficient navy, if the officers had
been true to their flag, would have crushed out the rebellion and
secession in the beginning. But not having such elements at her
command (as dear old England has) she is weakened and under-
mined in her own estimation and in the eyes of the universal
world. Her prestige is gone, perhaps forever, and with it the
glory of the Republican form of government.

I am now gliding down the river at the rate of eight miles
an hour. The water is shallow and muddy and the breadth of the
stream is not greater than from our corner to Uniacke's corner.
The foliage of the sycamore, elm, oak, cedar, etc., is just being
well developed. The day is delightful and warm, there is a nice
breeze blowing up the river. The turns in the stream are sharp
and at no part can we see further ahead than a quarter of a mile.
There are no snags as in the Mississippi, and the only things to
be avoided are the dead logs which float lazily down the stream.
Altogether, the scene, the day, and all nature are delightful, and
I only wish you were my companion — and it would be enjoyed ten-
fold. But, dear Fanny, now that I have discovered the clan
McXeill and know their stamp, their hospitality, and have received

174 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

invitations to return with my Northern wife as early as possible
and pay them a longer visit, it is not improbable, if God spares
our lives a little longer, that you shall enjoy the same scenes.
We shall enjoy it together. Should all go well, I have figured out
a delightful excursion for some future day, that is, after visiting
the clan McNeill, to go south to Memphis, Tennessee, sail up
the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, the Cumberland River also,
visit the vast cave of Kentucky, Cincinnati and other western
cities, and return home by the way of Quebec, the River St.
Lawrence and Pictou. I look forward to this excursion, which
will take six weeks, with great pleasure, but " the best-laid
plans o' mice and men gang aft aglee." And as we do not
know what God has in store for us in the future, it will not do to
think too much of it, but if God wills we shall accomplish it.

The steamer in which I am now sailing and writing draws
but little water, has her paddle-wheel in the stern, her furnace
on the very bow. This latter arrangement is for the purpose of
lighting up the track in dark nights, as they then open up the
door of the furnace and the turpentine pine-wood, with which they
feed the fire, makes a tremendous blaze. The river far ahead
and on both sides is made as light as day. We embarked at 6
o'clock a.m. and have a load of turpentine, resin, and cotton for
Wilmington, which place we hope to reach at 9 o'clock to-night.
I took a good breakfast on board. Everything is neat and clean,
and as we shall arrive too late for the Southern train, I purpose
to sleep on board instead of going to a hotel, and then take the
early train for Charleston. Whenever we want more wood we
just stop at one of the many piles on the bank of the river, take
on board as much as we need, and there being no person on hand
to receive the money, the captain hangs a ticket on the pile, signed
by himself, stating how much he has walked off with, and then in
a few minutes we are away again. This ticket is sent to the agent's
office either in Fayetteville or Wilmington, and the owner of the
wood is paid — not a bad system, but the men on shore must have
great confidence in the honesty of the captain. As a general
thing, I think the men of the South are an honorable, honest
people ; but the hot weather, especially in these times, makes their
blood hot, and they become excitable and hot-headed.

Since I entered Southern ground I have felt perfectly safe,
have been treated with respect and attention, and altogether feel
more confortable than I did when further North, as regards safety.
Altogether, I have enjoyed my visit thus far; and having now a
fair share of health and strength, am able to rough it, should this
become necessary. I think that from our appearance we are
generally taken for Englishmen, and as citizens of that country
and her dependencies we may expect more kindly treatment and
consideration than if we were from the North. I have written you

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1863 175

very long letters, and always so hurriedly that I fear you will
hardly be able to make them out. I am generally obliged to
write in the common sitting-room of the hotels, not having any
fires in the various bedrooms I have occupied, and amidst the noise
of politics and general conversation. Consequently I cannot think
as I would like, as I drive over the ground headlong, so that the
talking of my neighbors may not distract my attention. In this
way, I daresay, I often forget incidents that would amUse and
interest you. I wish you would keep all my letters, as I have not
made memoranda of many things I may subsequently wish to
refer to as refreshers to my memory, and I may, at some future
time, wish to make such reference. Much that I have written
about the MeXeills will not be of interest to you, but my mother
will take in every word of it, and I know it will afford her the
utmost pleasure thus to learn something of her far-off relatives.
I will, therefore, thank you, dear Fanny, to copy, that part of
the letter referring to the clan McNeill and send it to her as
early as convenient.

You must not think that, from the shaky and irregular appear-
ance of the writing in this letter, I have been drinking. The fact
is, the vibration of the boat is so great at times that I cannot,
without great difficulty, keep the pen at work without making
scrawls, like a man of ninety years of age. I rather think the
loungers at the hotels, as well as the passengers of this boat,
seeing my pen going so rapidly and so often, have come to the con-
clusion that " that there fellow " is the special correspondent
of some English newspaper, and that I am travelling about like
one of those gentlemen, prying into everything and picking up
everything at this exciting time in connection with the present
difficulties, that will tickle the palates and inform the readers
of the paper which patronizes me, all about the peculiar institu-
tion, Uncle Sam and his country. One gentleman rather signifi-
cantly observed to me since I came on board here, that the English
seldom wrote fairly about America, and especially about the
South. Dickens I think he would hang and quarter for his
caricatures of their national peculiarities. He acknowledged
that there was one man, a barrister of Edinburgh named McKay,
who had done his subjects, the country and its people, justice,
and only one. I fear if my " jottings by the way " were to meet
his eye he would have a little tar and cotton ready for me on my
return to North Carolina. Although I think I have used them
fairly and from proper points of observation, my risible faculties
are not unfrequently excited by their peculiarities, and as I am
only outlining my journey, I will have much left to tell you on my
return. My only fear, however, is that I shall never get the time
to tell you all I have not put on paper, or if time is obtained,
that my memory will fail before the leisure comes.

176 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Charleston, S. C, Friday Morning, April 12.
I little expected to reach this place until late to-night, but
our Cape Fear River captain, being urged on by myself and others,
packed the furnaces well with turpentine pine, and we landed
at Wilmington, 1ST. C, about a quarter to eight last night. I at
once crossed the river to its southern side in a boat, and was in
time to get on the Charleston train, and consequently saved
myself a night among the Wilmington bugs. Wilmington is a
dirty place and abounds in these animals. You can get plenty to
eat, but a clean bed is out of the question. Stairs wanted to remain
there a second night but was afraid of the consequences, so he
and his son spent Wednesday night on the Southern train. I could
not get a bed, but the car in which I travelled half the night had a
rest for the head like those you see attached to the shaving chairs
in a barber shop. On this I slept a good deal. When we arrived
at Florence on the borders of South Carolina we met a custom
house officer of the new Confederacy, who examined the luggage.
He saw " Nova Scotia " on mine, and I presume thought I did
not look like a Yankee abolitionist, so he let me pass without
opening up my trunk and chattels.

Friday night. As we neared the city about half past seven
o'clock, we heard the booming of heavy artillery, and in a few
minutes the wind brought the smell of gunpowder down upon us.
We, of course, knew that the reports we had heard for a week before
about an attack on Major Anderson and Fort Sumter were
being verified. The train brought to the city volunteers of all
kinds who chatted pleasantly over the future as it had reference
to themselves, and spoke lightly of death. I hope, poor fellows,
they may not unexpectedly have to meet the King of Terrors.
We, that is Stairs, Johnnie and myself, met, as previously
arranged, at the Mills House, and we found also Mr. Duncan
of Savannah, a cousin of Mr. Stairs, here. He came up last
night to see the ball open. The firing has been heavy and con-
tinuous all day, shaking our hotel, and we have been on board
a government steamer a large part of the time, from which we
could better witness the shot and shell practice. The greatest
excitement prevails. Nearly everyone in the city has father,
son, or brother engaged on some of the island forts, and, of course,
all seem affected and anxious. But all, even ladies, are anxious
that the existing state of things should be terminated, even at
the sacrifice of human blood. Ten thousand troops are in and
about the city — rather raw material as yet, but I daresay eventu-
ally they will make good practice with light and heavy guns.
Indeed, some first rate practice in shelling Sumter was made from
one of the batteries. Major Anderson's force is weak — under one
hundred men, but there are three men-of-war in sight of the town,

THE AMERICAN" TOUR OF 1861 177

trying to reinforce and provision the fort. I think they will
hardly succeed, unless the darkness of night favors them. We
cannot tell what effect the day's work has had on Fort Sumter,
as it is a mile away from the nearest opposing fort, and, of course,
there has been no communication with it. Many shells exploded
in it, and it is not improbable that Anderson's numbers to-night
are less than in the morning. All the shops are closed, and the
whole city was out, men, women, children and niggers, to see
the game of ball, as they call it here.

This work of to-day, I think, will settle the question as to
the border slave States. They will now doubtless fall in with
the Southern Confederacy. Indeed, Virginia and North Carolina
have sent their volunteers to this place in large numbers already.
To-day, the mail and railway communication from this city
were stopped by order of the government, and we found ourselves
prisoners, not of war, exactly, but almost as bad. Knowing
that you would naturally feel anxious about us as soon as you
heard war was declared and going on in this locality, I telegraphed
to Frank to write you and say how we were situated. The wording
of the telegram had to be inspected and modified, as the govern-
ment would not allow a word to be sent over the wires relating
to the passing events. To-night I learned that the mail com-
munication north is re-opened, so I shall close my letter and trust
it to the Post Office authorities, hoping that it may reach you in
safety, although I fear it is too late to go by the Boston steamer
next Wednesday. We are off at eight o'clock in the morning for
Savannah. Since eight o'clock this evening there has been no
firing. It will commence again at daylight I suppose. I have
missed seeing Mr. Brunck, the Consul. When I called he was out,
and when he returned I was viewing the fight. Love and
kisses to the children, and remember me most kindly to all the
rest. God bless you, dear wife.

Ever your afft. husband,

D. McN. Parker.

Mills House, Charleston, S. C,

April 15, 1861,- Monday, 7 a.m.
Dearest Fanny:

Here I am still — at the present moment I am in my bed-
room four or five stories up, having just finished packing pre-
paratory to leaving for Savannah, Ga., by the 8.30 train, where
I hope to meet the long-hoped-for letters from home. I wrote
you a lengthy letter, the last part of it from this place, and
despatched it on Saturday morning. Whether you will receive
it or not I cannot say, as everything connected with the post office

178 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

and railway communications has been disarranged in consequence
of the declaration and commencement of war between the Southern
and Northern Confederacies. Now we are informed at the office
of this hotel that matters are being straightened up, and that both
letters and persons can leave without difficulty for the North and
South. I closed my letter to you just before going to bed last
Friday night, and stated that the cannonading of Fort Sumter
had ceased. I was mistaken, for just as I had blown out the
candle, the heavy booming sound of artillery was distinctly heard,
and it continued all night. The reason we could not hear it, as
in the early part of the evening, was in consequence of the wind
shifting. It now blew directly off the land. At early day all the
city was in great excitement, the bustle, noise and confusion
were very great. The Stars and Stripes were still floating proudly
over Sumter, and Anderson was still blazing away at all the land
forts. The excitement continued until about eleven o'clock, when
it became more intense in consequence of the vast columns of
smoke arising from Fort Sumter. Of course all was surmise
as to its origin. Some said they were heating up their furnaces
preparatory to firing hot shot; others, that Anderson had fired
the casemates, wooden buildings, and gun carriages so as to
destroy all he could before giving up the Fort. It was soon
very evident to me that a large surface within the ramparts was
being destroyed by fire, and the volume of flame began to rise
over the high stone walls, making it appear to all that the defend-
ing force must soon be burned and smoked out. Their fire slack-
ened and soon ceased, that is, from the guns within the fort, but
no white flag appearing, the batteries on Fort Moultrie continued
with others to play away on the burning fort. At this time a
shot or shell from Moultrie struck the flagstaff, a very high one,
in the centre of Sumter, and carried away the Stars and Stripes.
A smaller one was raised in its stead, which could only be
occasionally seen through the clouds ol smoke. A small boat, at
this juncture, put off from Fort Morris with one of General
Beauregard's aides-de-camp on board, who hoisted a white flag,
made from his shirt sleeve, on the point of his sword. When he
reached the fort no person could see him for the smoke, and he
crawled up through one of the embrasures, and at length, after
many difficulties, came in contact with the commander, to whom
he suggested the propriety of running up a white flag. This
Anderson at first declined to do, but seeing his case hopeless,
up went, I daresay a shirt tail — at least something white, and
this, as soon as discovered, caused the forts to cease firing. You
cannot imiagine the excitement when it was discovered that the
white flag was on the ramparts. Old men, women and children
all felt and looked as if the Northern Yankee was for ever used

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 179

up and done for. Such shaking of hands and congratulations
" as I never did see." Every person at once began to discuss
the propriety of hanging Major Anderson — a la Lynch — for tiring
the fort, and for holding it when he knew there was no earthly
chance of success. Some of the older men shook their heads, but
the young soldiers (volunteers) vowed death was his due and he
must go up, on the suspension principle. I could not say a word
in the poor fellow's behalf for having only done his duty. One
or two suggestions of this kind coming from me made these hot-
headed boys look at me very comically — so I shut up.

At length the report reached the city that the fort had been
fired by hot shot and shell from the mainland, and this appeared
to throw oil on the troubled waters. But still they wanted to see a
Captain Doubleday — a rank Republican officer of Sumter's
garrison — despatched summarily. This poor fellow's name was
in everybody's mouth, and if he had landed I don't know what
would have become of him. The final surrender of the fort did
not take place until yesterday, Sunday, when all the arrange-
ments being made, in the afternoon Anderson was allowed to
embark his men and accoutrements, with their baggage, on board
a small steamer. The men went on board the American fleet
in the offing, as I understand, while Anderson was permitted to
take the steamer to New York. He declined embarking himself
on board any of the frigates, being excessively annoyed that
their officers did not attempt boldly to run in and reinforce him
with men, arms and provisions. They had on board 1,500 to
2,000 soldiers and artillerymen, and they were six ships in all,
plainly visible from where I viewed the bombardment. Yet there
they remained during all the engagement, without attempting
to run the gauntlet either by day or by night. It is true they
might have been sunk, but under the circumstances, I feel certain
that British officers would have made the attempt. Old Lord
Dundonald would have gone in with a fishing smack if he could
have got nothing better. I was very kindly treated by the Surgeon-
General of the Southern army, who kept me booked up on all that
was going on. When he went off to the fort with the General
to take possession, one of the United States soldiers told him
that if Major Anderson would have allowed them the Sumter
artillerymen would gladly have turned their guns on the ships
of war. " The cowardly scoundrels " — as he designated them.
He was an Irishman. What is very surprising, connected with
the bombardment, is the fact that not a single man was killed
on either side. The guns were playing continuously forv thirty-
six hours, and there were many narrow escapes, yet a horse was
the only thing killed. General Beauregard, until recently, has
been serving as a captain under Major Anderson, and having

180 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

a great respect for him, as a soldier and man of honor, he gave
the Major leave to salute the United States flag ere he left the
fort. This request had been made, I believe, by Anderson. In the
afternoon of Sunday this ceremony took place, and in firing the
salute, some cartridges were ignited, killing, accidentally, one man
on the spot, and wounding five more, two of whom have since
died. The Southern men looked upon the bloodless engagement at
Fort Sumter and its successful issue, as a mark of direct inter-
ference on their behalf by Providence. As I walked into a
Baptist church yesterday afternoon, I was informed of the acci-
dent above referred to, by a good brother Baptist, who looked
upon it as a mark of Divine anger upon the " Black Republican
Government " of the North, as Lincoln's government is here
designated. All classes and denominations, ministers as well as
lay members of churches, are unanimous for war. I went with
Mr. Mure, a Scotch merchant of this place, and the agent of the
Roseneath and other ships of Kidston's of Glasgow, a friend of
Stairs, to a Presbyterian church, and there heard an old man
on the verge of the grave, the Rev. Dr. Forrest, preach a thanks-
giving sermon for the victory and its bloodless results. He spoke
of the cause as a just and righteous one, and feelingly alluded
to the many mothers and fathers, whose sons had taken their
lives in their hands to defend their country's rights and honor.
He, the reverend Doctor, had a son engaged in one of the forts.

The possession of this fort is a great matter. It is placed in
the very centre of the entrance to the harbor of Charleston, just as
George's Island is situated in reference to the harbor of Halifax.
It cost millions of money and years of labor to complete it, as
the foundation had to be made with stone thrown into deep water.
Yon can imagine the expense of the undertaking when I tell
you that within the walls of Sumter there is a surface of over
three acres of ground. The Yankees looked upon it as their
Gibraltar — but they do not know what a Gibraltar is. One of the
forts opposed to it they called Moultrie, and on its site the first
successful blow against the British, in the South, was struck in
the War of Independence of 1776 — rather a singular coincidence —
and this fort was the most formidable opponent of Sumter on
this occasion.

The streets of Charleston present a most singular appearance
just now — full of troops, armed horsemen, and almost every
man with a revolver or two hung by his side. The unanimity
of feeling pervading all classes is a singular feature of this
struggle. All the States now out of the Union are firmly united.
One thing strikes even a common observer. All the soldiers are
men having a stake in the country, most of them men of property,
owning both real estate and slaves. Gentlemen of wealth are

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 181

in the ranks, doing common soldiers' duty. In some instances
they have their slaves with them to perform the more menial
duties, but these they generally do themselves. No slaves are
allowed to carry arms, although I am informed that they occasion-
ally ask to be allowed to enter the ranks as soldiers.

The North is impressed with the belief that the slaves will
rise and aid them, while they will in this way intimidate the
South and to some extent cripple them. In this impression I
think they are decidedly wrong. All the men of the South to
whom I speak place the utmost reliance on the fidelity of the
blacks and dread no evil from this source. McNeill told me that
he would not hesitate to arm his slaves and those in his neighbor-
hood and oppose them to the Northern men, while he felt the
utmost confidence in leaving them as he expected to do, in case
war began. In fact every Southerner looks upon the slave
as a means of strength, inasmuch as the masters and men of
property can fight and act as soldiers while the agricultural
interests of the country are being attended to, and their families
protected, by the very slaves from whom the North expect
material strength. Even should the slaves have the disposition
to rise, it would not, I think, result in anything very serious, as
they are timid, entirely unaccustomed to the use of firearms,
and it would take an immense time to organize them, situated
as they now are, scattered over such an extent of country. The
want of education and mental training would unfit them for the
higher branches of the art of war. Altogether, from personal
observation, I think that in the war just initiated, the old United
States will have to trust entirely to Northern men and that the
slave element will not strengthen them, but their opponents.

Yesterday afternoon we heard an address to the Sabbath school
children of the First Baptist Church of Charleston. This old
church is situated in the midst of a burying ground, and the
graves are surrounded by roses in bloom, and all kinds of beauti-
ful shrubbery. Stairs, Johnnie and I spent an hour most pleas-
antly in the place, listening to the children singing before the
service commenced. The old black people love to congregate
about these gravestones and talk over by-gone days. One old
woman was weeping over the graves of her mistress, master and
their children, to whom she must have been tenderly attached.
The graves contained the remains of the former pastor of the
church, his wife and sons, and this poor old woman had been
their property. It was a touching incident, and demonstrated
the fact that some at least of the slave proprietors had hearts
and feelings. The sermon having commenced, or rather the pre-
liminary service, we were disturbed by the roar of artillery
which announced the final evacuation of Fort Sumter and the

182 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

permanent raising of the flag of the new confederacy. But few of
any sex or age were present at church. All Charleston appeared
to be sailing on the harbor, viewing the scene of the late conflict,
or looking at it from almost every point of view afforded by the
city. Sunday appeared like one great gala day. All was rejoicing
and mirth, without drunkenness or disorderly conduct. Indeed,
the most perfect order was preserved, notwithstanding the
excitement.

Savannah, Ga., Wednesday morning, April 17. — We started
from Charleston with a heavy human freight, the train being
filled to overflowing with Georgians who had been up to look
at the fight or view the conquered fort. Many of them were carry-
ing home, to hand down to their descendants, cannon balls, pieces
of broken and exploded shells, in short anything and everything
that would serve as a memento of " the great and glorious com-
mencement of a glorious war." As we passed along, every tree
appeared to have a horse or horse and carriage beneath its shade
held by a black man or boy, while its owner rushed frantically
to the stopping-places to hear the news, get a newspaper, or some
small piece of shot or shell to carry through the woods to his
home, to exhibit to his excited family and neighbors. Women,
too, were in the throng, as anxious as the men, perhaps more so,
as very likely many mothers came to hear what had befallen their
sons in " the great battle." For the sound of the artillery and
mortars reached even as far as forty miles from the scene of con-
flict, and all supposed much human blood had been shed. You
can judge of their surprise when they were told that no person
was hurt in the fight, and only a horse killed.

The country between Charleston and Savannah for a hun-
dred miles, is low, wet and unhealthy. From the appearance of
the dismal swamp, the moss-clad trees and the rank, deep vege-
tation of this section of country, I can easily imagine that even
snakes and wild animals would gladly give it a wide berth.
Every man and boy in the country being seized with a military
and fire-eating spirit, and all being armed with revolvers and
bowie knives, we had to submit to a constant din and noise of
their small arms. The poor helpless trees and telegraph posts
had their feelings hurt, " considerable I guess," as they were
penetrated by the bullets from revolvers discharged at them from
the windows of our passing train. I rather think these youngsters
will be cooled down ere long if the sad realities of war are
brought practically to their attention. The unoffending trees
and posts will then be apt to escape. The heat in travelling
through the low, swampy region had been extreme, and not being
very well when I left, I became seasick — as violently so as if I had
been on the Atlantic; so that on my arrival at the Pulaski Hotel

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 183

I had to go to bed for some hours. The next morning, however,
I was as well as usual. When in North Carolina it was rather
cool. Indeed, before reaching Charleston, we had only one warm
day, and that was at Philadelphia. The thermometer ranged
from 45 to 55. After leaving Fayetteville, it grew warmer, and
the climate here at present, especially since a violent rainstorm
on Monday night, has been delightful. We found our letters at
the hotel, and as you can readily conceive, were delighted to get
them and hear from our dear ones at home. I only received
one from you, sent by packet, dated March 2.9th. Stairs, however,
had one from his wife of April 2nd, saying she had seen you the
day before, and that you were all well. I presume the early
arrival of the English boat took you all by surprise, and you were
not prepared to mail a second letter. Frank will have a large
pile on hand when we reach New York, as I hope to do in
about ten days. We have read with much interest the six news-
papers forwarded through Frank, and would be glad of more of
the same sort. Poor Charlie Campbell, as I expected, is gone
back to his mountain home to fight another Gaelic warfare with
his late Christian friends and ministers of Victoria. I wish him
well through his difficulty, and back again in the House. I wish
Charles or Tupper had written; however, I hope to get letters
from them on my arrival at New York.

Stairs having relations and commercial correspondents in
this city, we have been most kindly received and have had much
attention paid us. We dine out to-day. I took tea with a
Mr. Johnston, a grandson of Andrew Johnston, last night, and
to-morrow expect to dine with one of the leading merchants of
the South and the president of the great bank of the place.

As soon as I recovered from my temporary illness I set about
looking up the Clan Johnston, and had no difficulty in finding
them and their connections. Stair's cousin, Mr. Duncan, has
two sons and one daughter. This daughter is married to a Mr.
Johnston, a relative of our Mr. Johnston. He is the son of
James, who was the grandson of Andrew Johnston, who was born
in 1735 and died sixty-six years after, in 1801, leaving a large
number of children. It is his descendants that I have been
brought in contact with. The story is too long to commence with.
I have given the matter two or three hard hours' writing. I got
hold of an old Bible of the date of 1757, and another of more
recent date, and have got the family tree in my pocket, com-
mencing with the birth of one James Johnston, born in 1686 —
the father of Lewis Johnston, the ancestor of the No^a Scotia
Johnstons. Mr. Molyneux, the British Consul here, is married
to George Houston Johnston's sister (the gentleman at whose
house I was last night). He has a son in England in the 7th

184: DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Dragoon Guards. This Mr. Molyneux has a brother married to a
Miss Mitchell, formerly of Halifax, daughter of Admiral Mitchell,
who married a Uniacke. George Houston Johnston's grand-
father was Sir George Houston, Bart., the son of Sir Patrick
Houston, Bart., President of the Council of Georgia when it was
a British colony. His successor in office was Lewis Johnston,
the great-grandfather, or grandfather (I cannot now look and see)
of our Mr. Johnston. I learned that many of the old documents,
deeds, etc., have the name spelt with an e, but all the family here
for fifty years past have dropped the e, and spell it as Mr. J. does.
The family connection have two or three places called Annandale,
after their ancient Scottish home. I do not know that I shall be
able to visit the island of Shiddenay. It is about nine or ten miles
away from this place, has several plantations on it, only one of
which belongs to the family. Tell Mr. Johnston that I fear the
chances of his becoming a cotton planter on Shiddenay are but
small.

Savannah is a very large place commercially, although it has
but 30,000 inhabitants. It exports immense quantities of cotton,
island cotton, rice, corn, pitch-pine, timber, etc. We strolled along
its wharves yesterday and boarded a Yarmouth vessel belonging to
Moses & Co. of that place. There are several New Brunswick
vessels in port, loading with pine timber, and the lumber used in
shipbuilding at St. John. The public squares are small and
numerous, the streets broad and lined with evergreen trees, prin-
cipally water-oak. It has a fine park. A large parade is spread
over a considerable surface of black, sandy land. The city has two
principal monuments, one a very fine work of art erected after the
visit of Lafayette in 1821, to Pulaski, the Pole, who fell at the
siege of Savannah in July, 1779 — also another to General Greene,
the general who defeated Lord Cornwallis and other British gen-
erals in the Southern struggles of the Revolutionary War. George
Houston Johnston married a Miss Turner, General Greene's grand-
daughter. Altogether, at this season of the year, with the foliage
fully out, the roses and other flowers in bloom, Savannah is a most
delightful place to sojourn in for a few days.

The war spirit is as firm and as general as it is in South Caro-
lina. Old men and young are deeply bitten by it. Old Mr.
Duncan has two sons (one a surgeon) in the army of Georgia, his
son-in-law, Mr. Johnston, is in a dragoon regiment, while the old
gentleman himself is a member of the crack artillery corps of
Savannah. Young Mr. Johnston took me to the Planters' Bank,
where his uncle George was to be found as one of its officers. On
the president's table (Mr. Roberts is his name) was placed a May-
nard's rifle with which he had been practising at a target, the
better to fit him for the work of bringing down the " Black Repub-

THE AMERICAN" TOUR OF 1861 185

lican Yankees," and I put in my pocket the piece of card at which
he had been firing, to show your father, Mr. Binney, and other bank
men how presidents of banks down here amuse themselves, and
what crack shots they are. Mr. Duncan exhibited to me with
great delight his Minie rifle, which cost him $270 — a splendid
instrument of destruction. This state of things — what we see and
what we hear — gives us a pretty correct estimate of the kind of
men and mettle the Northern Yankee will have to meet on his
journey down South.

I hear that Virginia and North Carolina are on the eve of
coming out and joining the South, with which they warmly sym-
pathize. A few days will determine the point with them, and this
junction will necessarily involve the further secession of four
more border slave States, which, with the seven now united in the
Southern Confederacy, will present such a formidable array as
will, I have no doubt, cause Lincoln and his government to pause
and consider well what they have to meet, and eventually to
acknowledge the new nation as among the things accomplished
and in existence. Then, an amicable arrangement may be made
as to the property taken possession of by the Southern States, as a
matter of business, bloodshed may be prevented, and the world will
be saved the pain of witnessing a long and bloody war of brethren
of the Anglo-Saxon race. They will never again coalesce as one
nation. They are now and forever two distinct peoples, distinct
in feeling, interests, education, and everything that essentially
binds nations and people together. The South to-day is and will
be for very many years to come, more friendly and more disposed
to co-operate commercially, and in every other way, with her old
enemy England, notwithstanding the strong anti-slavery feeling
and tendencies of the latter country, than with the Northern States
of the late Union.

I remarked in a former letter how often one tumbles on the
friends of friends. I have had another interesting illustration of
the fact. Just as I was on the eve of leaving the Mills House to
join the Southern train at Charleston, a casual acquaintance came
up to me and told me that a Dr. Curtis wanted to see me. I was
introduced to him by my new friend. He, Curtis, told me that
he had noticed my name on the hotel book as from Halifax, and
having been there years ago he wished to know something about
some friends there and in the adjoining country. I asked him who
were known to him there. He replied, the Crawleys of Cape
Breton. I told him I knew them well, and expected to visit
Dr. Crawley at Spartanburgh, S.C., in a few days. He said he
had left him only two or three days before, and that the Crawleys
were living in his house. I then found out that he was Dr. Curtis
(D.C.L.), a co-principal with Crawley in a large female Institu-

186 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

tion at Limestone Springs, a place owned by him. The history of
this man is singular. He, with his father, Dr. Curtis (D.D.), of
London, on their way to Canada were wrecked on the coast of New-
foundland, and found their way to Sydney, C.B. Captain Crawley
took them in and kept them all winter. They afterwards came to
Charleston, S.C. Dr. Curtis, Sr., became pastor of a Baptist
church in that city. Afterwards, father and son bought this large
property of Limestone Springs, a watering-place, and commenced
a ladies' seminary, which has at present about one hundred and
eighty Southern young ladies being educated within its walls.
His father was burned to death on board a steamer going north
from Norfolk to Baltimore two years since, and it became neces-
sary for the young man to supply his place. He at once thought
of his old friend Dr. Edmund Crawley as just the man for
the position, and offered him the situation ; and he adds that
Crawley is now happily and comfortably situated at Limestone
Springs. Dr. Curtis told me that his deceased father was at
one time the editor of the Metropolitan Encyclopedia, in con-
junction with the celebrated Coleridge, and while occupying
that position gave the present Archbishop of Canterbury, while
a young man and poor, the first guinea he ever earned — for
some article he undertook for their Encyclopedia. Dr. Curtis
was going South to look after an estate in Georgia. I believe
he is rich, is very well known here by every person, and at
present, although a Baptist minister, is a member of a Convention
of South Carolina, to which office he was elected at the beginning
of the present troubles. I hope to see the Crawleys the last of
this week. I cannot accept Mr. Greene's invitation to dine with
him to-morrow, as I leave, if God wills, about 2 p.m. of that day
for Crawley's residence, far back in South Carolina — two hun-
dred or two hundred and fifty miles from Charleston. In the
meantime Stairs and Johnnie go to see one of their relatives, and
we meet again on Monday at Charleston, S.C, and then commence
our homeward journey.

You perhaps may hear from me once more before we leave.
Say to my mother that I had overcome all the difficulties which
surrounded the Clan McNeill, before getting her letter. Give my
best love and regards to all in Halifax and Dartmouth. May God
bless you, my own dear wife, and our dear ones, and permit us
again to meet on earth — is the prayer of

Your afft. husband,

D. McN. Parker.

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 187

Limestone Springs,

Spartanburgh District, S.C.
April 20th, 1861.
My dearest Fanny :

I wrote you from Savannah on Wednesday last, the 17th inst.,
and mailed my letter just as I was on my way to dine with our
friend Mr. Duncan. We had a very pleasant and a very good
dinner. The party consisted of his two sons, now engaged in the
Southern army, his son-in-law, Mr. Johnston, who, with his wife
and two children, live with the old gentleman, — and our own Nova
Scotia party of three. Mrs. Johnston, Mr. Duncan's daughter, is
the housekeeper, her mother having been many years dead. She
has two dear children, a boy and an infant of the age of our dear
little fellow. She and her elder brother were brought in as dessert,
and made me think more of my own little ones than, under such
circumstances, I would otherwise have done. I nursed the little
girl for some time, and she was as good as our dear little babe.
The boy, although only three years of age, was being drilled as a
soldier by all hands, and really marched, halted and went through
the various evolutions and gun exercises with wonderful accuracy
for a mere child. Thus early do they commence down South " to
teach the young idea to shoot." We had for dinner salad, green
peas, strawberries and other delicacies, the very rudiments of
which are frozen up as yet in cold Nova Scotia. Tell the old
gentleman not to let his mouth water at the thoughts of such early
luxuries. After dinner Stairs said he was sorry we had refused
to dine with our friend the bank president the next day — to havo
some more of them. But we had refused his invitation and it
was then too late. We met him, however, at the station just as
we were leaving, and told him that we half regretted having
refused him, when the old gentleman almost coerced us back to
pot-luck, peas and strawberries.

We all left Savannah Thursday at half-past two p.m., and
Stairs accompanied me to Beaufort, fifty miles on the Charleston
road, where he and his son remained to visit Mrs. Smith, formerly
a Mass Duncan, married to a rich planter. She is the niece of
Mr. Duncan of Savannah, the daughter of a Kirk clergyman,
recently deceased in Scotland, who was a cousin of Stairs' mother,
and a brother of Mr. Duncan of Savannah. Our arrangement is
to be in Charleston on Monday night next, the 22nd inst., and to
start the next morning for the North.

I arrived in Charleston just in time to take the night train for
Columbia, the capital of this State, which place we reached about
5 a.m. yesterday morning. I was too much hurried to take tea in
Charleston, and when I found at this early hour a breakfast spread
under the station-house roof — without ends or sides — although it

188 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

was " like all outdoors," I took coffee and a light meal, which had
to suffice me until I reached here at nine o'clock last night. The
station is a mile from Columbia City, and I preferred remaining
by the train for the two hours rather than go to a city hotel only
to leave it in haste again. It would have amused you to see me
under this railway roof engaged in my ablutions and toilet. I saw
some soldiers washing their hands and faces, and water being good
and refreshing in any form, after such a journey, I stripped off
my coat, rolled up my sleeves, and went at it just as if I had been
in my dressing-room. A nigger man poured the water in my
hands, and a colored lady stood by with a quantity of towels " to
dry Mar'sr with." The people stared and doubtless thought I
was some eccentric Englishman. However, I enjoyed the wash,
and then unlocked my carpet bag and with comb and brush in
hand improved my personal appearance not a little. Then, Brit-
isher-like, I was soon deep in the pages of a Columbian morning
paper.

At Jonesville, twenty miles or thereabouts from Spartanburgh,
I left the train and hired a wagon to drive through to this place.
We left about 5 o'clock, but not until I had tried hard to get some-
thing to eat, without effect. The innkeeper had gone off to the
war, the hotel was shut up, and his wife was sick. So I had to eat
and digest my thoughts, over one of the roughest and most hilly
roads in creation. The post-boy, whose horse I drove, had gone
to Jonesville on a saddle. The man who kept horses for hire at
this place, like everybody else, had joined the army and was away,
suffering and bleeding, patriot-like, for his country and his niggers.
So I had either to mount up behind the post-boy and lash my
luggage to my back, or hire a buggy. After great exertions we
found a man who owned a vehicle and who was not " away at the
war," and he, for a consideration, let the boy have it. The wagon
was old, dirty and shaky, the harness ditto, the horse ditto. The
boy and I got him harnessed (the 'oss), then we set ourselves to
work to grease the wheels. After a time we got the luggage
lashed on, some behind, some before. In this way an hour or more
went quickly by, and we were late in starting. Everything about
the concern looked ancient. The wagon, 'oss and harness looked
as if they had seen service in the first war, the Revolution of 1776.
The post-boy looked like an old boy. In short, the only thing
young about the whole concern was your husband. The driver
was a shoemaker, who guessed it would take about six hours to
land me at Limestone. I guessed I would try it on a little harder.
The evening was cold, and the old boy had left his coat and gloves
at Limestone, and he beginning to feel chilly, as a medical man I
began to advise him how dangerous colds were, and strongly urged
him to keep his hands warm in his pockets, or rolled up in my

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 189

railway wrapper. He guessed the latter was best. I got the reins
into my hands by this suggestion, cut a stick by the wayside, and,
you may depend, worked my passage — hard — to this place. The
shoemaker's faculties appeared benumbed, his eyes closed, and you
can imagine his surprise when he found himself landed in Lime-
stone two hours earlier than he had " callated on." He guessed he
would, after this, drive a buggy instead of going on horseback, as
the old horse appeared to like it, and somehow to get over the
road " kinder quicker." When I asked him how much was to
pay, he said the charge was three dollars, but he guessed he'd take
fifty cents off, because I had driven him instead of his driving me.

All the active, young men and middle-aged, are away playing
the soldier. The old men, in many instances those of three-score
years and ten, are doing the same. The niggers, all along the
country, are working the plantations, while the women, children
and useless " critters " of whites only are left behind. In every
district the old men are enrolled as volunteers — in the " silver-
gray companies," not so much for purposes of war, but to have an
organized body of men with arms, in case difficulties from without
or within should arise — that is, should stray abolitionists come
along, after the manner of John Brown of Harper's Ferry notor-
iety, instigating the slaves to rise and throw off their allegiance.

After I had washed the dust off and taken a hearty dinner,
tea and supper all in one, I left the Curtis Hotel, where I put up,
and about ten o'clock walked over to Dr. Crawley's. They were
just going to bed when I knocked. The Doctor was called to speak
to me at the door, did not know me or my voice, asked me in the
dark to walk into his study, where a light was struck. " Take a
chair, sir," he said. I could hardly keep my countenance. He
began to look me over, scrutinizing my features closely, and at
last said, " Is it — yes, it is — is it possible that I see before me
Dr. Parker ?" I told him I was the man. He went to call his
wife, but did not tell her what he wanted. She came in, and quick
as thought said, " It is Dr. Parker," and gave me such a greeting,
and with it a good Nova Scotia kiss. Don't be jealous, old woman !
It is the first I have had since we parted, and is likely to be the
last until we meet again. Well, we sat down and chatted away
for an hour, when I left and came back to my hotel. I have had
a good night's sleep, a good breakfast, and presently shall step
over to spend the day with the Crawleys in their immense estab-
lishment. It looks like a great barracks for soldiers, from where
I write, and is full of young ladies — about a hundred and fifty in
number.

Saturday Evening. — I have visited the institution, and find it
very extensive. All the higher branches are taught in it, includ-
ing Latin and Greek. In all there are about fourteen teachers,

190 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

exclusive of housekeeper and others not specially engaged in the
educational department. All the teachers dine with the pupils.
Dr. and Mrs. Crawley, their family and myself sat at the head of
one table, Dr. Curtis's family at the head of another, and the male
and female teachers occupied their various positions among the
regiment of girls. It was a very interesting sight. Everything
was quiet and orderly, where, so many female tongues being
present, one would naturally expect the contrary. In the evening
at eight o'clock the prayer bell rang and we all joined the school.
Dr. Crawley gave out a hymn. The two head teachers of music
(men) set the tune, one at a piano, and the other led the one
hundred and fifty voices. It was a delightful sight. Then Dr.
Crawley read, with his deep, full voice, so familiar to my ears, a
chapter in the New Testament, and prayed. Then, in the regular
order of their seats, the girls all passed before the Doctor and,
shaking hands with him, said good-night.

After this we went to Dr. Crawley's house, where we found the
mail waiting, and the girls most anxious for their letters and
papers. All of them are deeply interested in the struggle now
going on. They have fathers and brothers away from home bear-
ing arms, ready for the strife whenever it may occur. Dr. Craw-
ley says, when the news of the bombardment of Sumter reached
them, and it was not known what the result would be — the sup-
position being that very many lives would be lost — it was a most
painful and distressing sight to see the whole school, or nearly so,
in tears and distress. This, however, soon changed to joy and
laughter, when they learned that the South had been successful
and no lives had been sacrificed.

The main building of the school is two hundred and seventy
feet long, four stories high and has every convenience. It was
built, years ago, for a hotel, and Dr. Curtis purchased it for
this school. I am taking home an engraving of the building
and grounds for Mrs. Dr. Johnston, when you and the friends
will be able to see it. Drs. Curtis and Crawley have two neat,
large houses detached from the great building, facing each othe**,
and in the square are other small houses for male teachers and
their families, as also for servants. In short, the large square
occupied by these school buildings is quite a little village in
itself. This school possesses one great advantage — it is away
from railroads, cities and such nuisances to schools. Parents,
relatives and young men about town cannot be calling upon
the girls and interfering with their studies. Without even
teachers, the scholars can walk along the roads, through the paths
in the woods, in short, anywhere, without the slightest fear of
being molested. Their world is the school, and to those engaged
in it, during the regular term there is no outer world. It

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 191

is just as if such a school village had been planted twenty miles
back in the woods in the rear of Sam's farm at Windsor. Their
mail and commissariat arrangements are most complete, and,
although out of the world and difficult of access, every day brings
them, through the post, letters and newspapers. Dr. Crawley
gave me a very pleasant drive a few miles out of the village, and
we ascended a small mountain from which a fine, commanding
view can be obtained. On the top of this mount, as everywhere
else, a high liberty pole was erected, and a torn palmetto flag waved
in the breeze. . . . One of the male teachers acts as tutor to
Curtis's and Crawley's boys, in addition to performing some
special duty in the school. This tutor, being a member of a volun-
teer company at Charleston which has been lately drafted into the
regular Southern army, is ordered away, and the Crawleys are
consequently in distress, fearing that they shall have great diffi-
culty, under existing circumstances, in supplying his place.

The news of a bloody combat at Baltimore has just reached us.
I fear there is trouble of no light kind ahead of these two con-
tending sections of the old United States.

Charleston, S.C., April 23rd, 1861. — I have to resume the
thread of my discourse, and take up and finish Limestone Springs.
On Sunday morning I attended meeting in the chapel of the insti-
tution. Dr. Crawley preached ably, touchingly, and, while strik-
ing high at the understanding, reached the emotional part of our
natures. Old associations were revived. Granville Street and
days and years gone by were before me. Would that some of his
old hearers could have listened to his lofty thought and been mel-
lowed by the softer touches interspersed throughout his discourse.
They may never hear him more. I may never again have that
pleasure. Very likely we have said the last farewell on earth, and
God grant that in Heaven we may be reunited, in a closer and
higher brotherhood with Christ as our Elder Brother and great
High Priest. The singing, as you may imagine, was splendid.
Altogether the occasion was one long to be remembered, and its
like is not, in all probability, to be witnessed by me again.

I was obliged to take the train from Spartanburgh at six o'clock
a.m. the following morning, and to effect this had to say good-bye
to the Crawleys at two o'clock on Sunday afternoon, and perform
my first Sunday journey since leaving Boston. I drove over this
distance, twenty miles, in time to get my tea and attend Methodist
meeting at seven o'clock. The preacher had selected, I daresay,
an appropriate subject for the locality, and he handled it with a
good deal of ability, but I had rather he had chosen another, as far
as I was concerned. His sermon was on the sin and impropriety
of cheating in business, making great bargains, selling short
measure and weight, taking advantage of the necessities of the

192 DANIEL McNEILL PARKEK, M.D.

poor in purchasing real estate, cotton, corn, etc. The fellow spoke
out right home, charged his hearers with these offences, and then
walked them right up to the Judgment Seat on the last day, and
pictured there these stock-jobbing, cotton-purchasing tricks, —
which must have rather startled the guilty. How long he would
have gone on in this strain I know not, but the first curfew bell
rang, calling the niggers in, and their tramp on the stairs brought
forth his " Lastly." . . .

When driving across the country on Sunday afternoon I heard
some marvellous stories, from blacks and whites, about a balloon
that had landed on Saturday between Spartanburgh and Lime-
stone. The whole neighborhood was excited, thinking that Abe
Lincoln had adopted this mode of spying out the nakedness of the
land and sending abolitionists to originate an insurrection among
the niggers. At Spartanburgh it was all the talk, and in the morn-
ing there was nothing else mentioned on the train. But before I
go any further I must say that this same Spartanburgh, a town of
about 2,000 inhabitants, is one of the prettiest spots in the world.
It has a brand-new, band-box appearance, and as you pass through
its streets you see large, fine houses placed well back in the midst
of the original forest trees. It is spread over a broad surface of
gently undulating ground and has a most unique and pleasing
appearance. Its inhabitants were away at the war, and one of my
brethren, a Baptist minister whom I had hoped to hear, had fol-
lowed suit. He is the chaplain of the Spartanburgh regiment, and
had marched with it to preach, pray, and fight the Yankees.

Now for the balloon. I started for Charleston at six a.m., and
when at Union, a few miles away from Spartanburgh, fell in with
the aerial machine and its proprietor. At the station he was sur-
rounded by a crowd, all gleaning what they could from the heights
above. It turned out that I was in luck, and that the gentleman
who had come down from the heavens was the celebrated Professor
Lowe, of aeronautic notoriety, who has been preparing for the last
two years for his transatlantic voyage. I took my seat by his
side and had one of the most pleasant and instructive chats that I
have ever had in my life. He started from Cincinnati at four
o'clock a.m., intending to go to Washington, but when crossing
the Alleghany and Blue Mountains — covered with snow — the cold
region altered the current of air to a southerly course, and he had
to come to earth near Limestone Springs. When seen, the balloon
caused a perfect panic, both among whites and blacks. The
darkies cleared like mad, and the whites armed themselves for a
combat, with the devil or Lincoln, they did not know which. At
one o'clock p.m. he had travelled 1,200 miles at a speed of 125
miles an hour, the greatest distance ever accomplished in that
space of time. He came to earth then, but was obliged to rise

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 193

again, as the people all fled or showed hostile intentions, and he
descended two hours later near the railway track in the Union
district. Here the men failed him, but a woman came forward
and seized the rope he had thrown out — fancying, I imagine, that
she had his Satanic majesty fairly by the tail. When he got out
of his basket he was arrested. One old woman shook her fist at
him and said, " Xow do we know that you are old Abe Lincoln's
son!" He assured them that his intentions were purely scientific
and pacific, but they had him carried to Union village to imprison
him, when, being a Freemason, and meeting among the crowd with
some of the officers of that fraternity, he very fortunately escaped
being lynched. He gave me a Cincinnati newspaper of Saturday
morning, the 20th inst., which I shall always keep as a memento
of my interview with him, and also to remind me of the fact that
this was the first newspaper that had ever travelled 125 miles an
hour or had come to earth from a height of over four miles. This
was the elevation he had reached when crossing the mountain
ridges. He gave me an accurate description and showed me dia-
grams of the balloon he intends crossing the Atlantic with in Ma)
or June next. It is so large that he can only fill it with gas at
one place on this continent — Philadelphia. Its capacity is 750,000
cubic feet, its depth 135 feet, diameter 100 feet, and it will carry
23 tons weight. Beside the place in which he and his companions
will live for the thirty to thirty-six hours' ride to Europe, it will
have connected with it a metallic lifeboat. This boat is of suffi-
cient capacity to carry twenty-three men and provisions, but he
will have with him only six men. The capacity of the balloon
which he carried on his basket-car was 40,000 cubic feet. While
on this, his forty-seventh voyage, the thermometer was at and below
zero for some time, and his supply of water was soon converted
into ice, which melted again under the heat of South Carolina
when he reached the earth. I told him I hoped to have the
pleasure of seeing him descend at Halifax some time soon. He
took my address, and will probably come down some fine afternoon
in our children's playground. Should he arrive there before my
return, do not let the natives fire at him while in the air, as they
did in Carolina, and entertain him hospitably. This adventurous
man is only twenty-nine years of age, with pleasing features and
gentlemanly address, tall and fine-looking. Poor fellow, he came
to earth at a bad time and in a dangerous neighborhood. It is very
lucky he did not swing on a tree as a spy. I am writing on board
a steamer, and must give it up.

Smyrxa, Delaware State, Tuesday, April 25, 1861. — I com-
menced writing on board a Chesapeake Bay steamer this morning,
but the vibration was so great that I was obliged to give it up.
Before retiring for the night I will add a few lines. After parting

194 DANIEL McNEILL pakkee, m.d.

from my friend Mr. Lowe, from the cloudy region above, I kept
on my journey and reached Charleston at 10.30 p.m., where I
found Stairs awaiting my arrival. The hotel people advised us
to follow in the footsteps of a number of Northern travellers and
return by the way of the Mississippi and Cincinnati, to avoid diffi-
culties in Virginia and Maryland, where the seat of war is likely
to be located. Indeed, it was assumed in Charleston that the two
armies would come in contact yesterday or to-day in the neighbor-
hood of Washington, and that it would be dangerous, if not impos-
sible, to pass, as the railway bridges had all been destroyed in that
neighborhood and the connecting steamers as well. We thought it
best to consult the British Consul, and he also advised the same
course. But as that would have kept us at least two or three weeks
longer away from home in weather too hot to be comfortable, we
concluded we would run the gauntlet and try our luck. We knew
very well that, although disposed to act as savages towards each
other, both North and South would act as Christians towards
foreigners. I am delighted that we came on this way, as we have
now passed through all the difficulties and are in a fair way of
being with you again in a few days. The trains have all been
loaded with Southern soldiers for the last three weeks, and now
that we are near Northern territory I learned that those coming
South are filled with the opposing forces — both sides converging
upon Washington.

We left Charleston at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, and travelled con-
stantly with the Southern troops until 6 p.m. yesterday, when we
reached Norfolk, Virginia, and there were fortunate enough to
catch a steamer bound for Baltimore. We saw the wreck and
ruins of the celebrated navy yard at Norfolk, as we steamed down
the bay, also the frigate " United States " anchored near this yard,
this being the only vessel that the Virginians got possession of.
Nine other ships of war were burned a few nights ago — or rather,
six were sunk and three burned — by the United States troops and
sailors ere they retired from the navy yard. One more frigate
was burned on the stocks, and they succeeded in carrying out the
frigate " Cumberland," after throwing over some of her guns, and
we passed her at Fort Monroe, Old Point Comfort, four or five
miles lower down the bay. The Virginians had rendered this step
necessary by sinking ships across the navigable passage of the
river, and they hoped to gain possession of the whole fleet. They
would have done so in a day or two but for this procedure on the
part of Commodore McCauley. The United States Government
in this way has lost two of the finest ships of its navy, and eight
others that could have been rendered available for active warfare.
The steamer in which we sailed was brought to at Fort Monroe to
be searched by United States officers, but we had no difficulty, and

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 195

after a substantial tea I retired to rest and had a most delightful
sleep of six hours, awaking about sunrise to view the beauties of
Chesapeake Bay. About seven o'clock we passed Fort McHenry
and reached Baltimore. The difficulty now was how to go further.
Fortunately a small steamer had a permit from the commanding
officer at the United States fort — McHenry — to pass down stream
for that day. We jumped on board her and ran along the coast
and Chester River for sixty miles to Chester, in Maryland. There
we disembarked and hired a wagon for ourselves and an express
wagon for our luggage. We reached this place about half-past
seven p.m. this evening, after a drive of nearly thirty miles through
a pleasant agricultural part of Maryland. Here we are safe from
strife and difficulty. The railroads have not been torn up nor the
bridges destroyed beyond this, so we hope, God willing, to leave
by the seven a.m. train to-morrow for Philadelphia.

Maryland will secede in a few days. Delaware, the small
State in which we now are, is troubled and knows not what to do.
She, too, when all the border slave States have retired, will, I dare-
say, cut herself adrift and join the new Confederacy. Matters
are in an awful state in this country. Nothing but the interference
of God's strong but peaceful arm can stay this bloodshed and ruin.
We have been living for the last three or four weeks in the midst
of all the emblems of war. Excitement such as you cannot con-
ceive of has surrounded us. Soldiers of all classes, with their
muskets, revolvers and bowie-knives, have been our companions, at
the hotels, in the street and on the railways, and you cannot tell
how pleasant it is to be located, if only for a single night, in a
country village, away from such signs of war and where men are
dressed in ordinary garb.

New York, Saturday night, April 27. — After starting from
Smyrna with a trainload of Southern fugitives, we reached Phila-
delphia about eleven a.m.. There we saw Northern excitement,
bayonets bristling, raw and ragged recruits drilling, and all the
paraphernalia of war. But the city being larger than those in the
South, this warlike sight was diluted by a larger amount of civilian
life. " Death and destruction to the Southerner !" is the watchword
here, and Brother Jonathan has got his Northern blood up like
the men of the South. But, unlike the men of the South, the
blood they have provided for spilling is mostly Irish and German.
It is true there is a larger sprinkling of the Yankee blood in the
volunteers than has been seen in any of their conflicts since the
Revolutionary War of 1776, but the blood that will principally
flow on this occasion, unless I am vastly mistaken, will be hired,
and of European origin. There are Irish, German and French
regiments, and I deeply regret to say that the English of New
York are forming a company to oppose the South. The Southern

196 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEK, M.D.

army is composed of real Southerners, men having a stake in the
country. In one regiment of volunteers there are two privates
who are worth together three millions of dollars. The North are
laboring under the impression that they will speedily overrun the
South and conquer them ; but I tell them they will never be able
to accomplish it if they live to be as old as Methusaleh.

In Philadelphia, opposite the Continental, is the Gerard House,
unoccupied as a hotel. There are employed there now 300 cutters
and an immense number of women with sewing-machines, making
up military clothing and necessaries. The women here, as in the
South, are similarly employed. In fact, men, women and children
are all either on one side or the other, and all employed. The
women as usual are working their tongues in unison. While
Stairs was attending to some business in Philadelphia, Johnnie
and I went out to Laurel Hill cemetery by train and returned by
steamer down the Schuylkill River — the same route that we all
took in 1854. It is not seen now to so great advantage as then,
as the foliage is not fully out, but it is extended more — by the hand
of death.

We left by the 6.30 p.m. train and arrived here at 11 p.m., being
anxious to hear from home. We telegraphed from Philadelphia
to Frank to have our letters at the Fifth Avenue Hotel awaiting us,
and as soon as the office was reached they were in our hands and
opened. I was delighted, dearest wife, to hear from you, and am
very grateful to God to learn that you and our dear ones are well,
or comparatively so. . Death has been in your midst, dear

Fanny. Many changes have taken place since I left you. We
should be grateful to God that we are as well as we are and that
we have not to mourn the loss of those near and dear to us.
Give Mary Ann and Mr. Binney my love, and say to her that her
" Pest " has been long enough away to permit her to get quite well.
I generally find my patients improve rapidly after I leave home,
and find them well on my return. I was surprised to meet Martyr
Nutting here to-day. I went in to Tom Whitman's office and
found him sitting there quite at home. . . . He goes to
Halifax by this steamer. I am sorry our dear little boy is troubled
with his teeth. I trust God will spare him to us. He is very
dear to me, and I would not like to part with him, although I
know if God took him it would be for his good. You do not men-
tion whether or not Johnston has been a good and obedient boy
during my absence. I sincerely trust to hear that he has. Tell
him with Papa's kindest love that I often think of and pray for
him, that he may be kept in the right way. Dear little Mary Ann
must be kissed for Papa ; and tell them all I hope to be able to do
it soon myself. Joseph Northup is here with his wife and sister
at this hotel. He tells me you were all anxious about us when you

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 197

learned that we were at the seat of war. Stairs telegraphed yes-
terday and told them to let you know that I was safe and well in
Philadelphia. Mr. Archibald was glad to see us back in New
York. He felt uneasy about us, knowing our locality and the
difficulty that there would be in getting North. He says he tele-
graphed to Kinnear four days ago that we were safe at Charleston,
Mr. Brunck, the Consul, having told him of our whereabouts and
welfare. He felt the more anxious because he has been cut off
from all communications with Lord Lyons at Washington for ten
days, and only yesterday could get a messenger through. Two of
Lord Lyons' special messengers were turned back by the United
States authorities, and his Lordship has been cut off from all com-
munication with the British government for that period. Archi-
bald detained the " Persia " twenty-four hours at New York, and
then had to let her go without his despatches. We were very for-
tunate to get off so cheaply. Many of the Northern fugitives had
to pay as high as eighty or one hundred dollars to be conveyed only
twenty or thirty miles. One man told Archibald that it cost him
one hundred dollars for that distance alone. He reached here
yesterday, and had a hurried, dangerous and expensive journey.
Thank God it is now all over and we are out of the way of actual
war.

I observe from your letter that you had received only mine of
the 8th inst., dated at Raleigh, N.C. I have written two or three
since that date, from Charleston and Savannah, which I hope have
not gone astray, as they contain a kind of journal of my move-
ments, sayings and doings. ... I shall stay a day or two
each in Boston, Portland and St. John, after leaving here. I am
now very well, having got a good night's sleep, and being rested
after so much hurried and night travel. We thought it best, as
the weather is cold in Nova Scotia, not to return by the steamer,
but to go via Portland and St. John. This will detain us a week
or ten days later. I am very much obliged for the newspapers,
but as yet I have only had time to glance at them. I learn enough
to make me feel anxious about the political doings of the next
month. I am strongly in hope that we shall carry King's and
Victoria. ... I am much obliged to Tupper for his two
letters and shall write him on Monday morning. . . . Ask
Charles or Dr. Tupper to attend to my resignation as chairman
of the Executive Committee of the Club, if they have not already
done it. I have made up my mind that it will be necessary for me
to work less than ever I have done ; and what work I do will have
to be professional. I have suffered long with my head, and,
worked as I am, to continue slaving myself will be more than
injudicious. . . . Frank is recovering from a slight attack of
rheumatism. He is at his office again after an absence of three or

198 DANIEL McNEILL pakkek, m.d.

four days. I may perhaps be able to write you a few lines from
Portland.

Monday, April 29. — I shall not leave here, dear Fanny, until
to-morrow night. I have written T upper, and by getting his
letter you will be able to learn what a queer Sunday I spent, and
how unprofitably the evening service fell upon our ears. Little
Jack said, when we came out, " Well ! I don't think that sermon
of Mr. Beecher's will convert anyone." If I were Henry Ward
Beecher I would not like to be shaved by a Southern barber. . . .

I feel pretty well. Say to the dear children that Papa hopes
soon to be able to kiss them all. I have not time to write to
Johnston, as Stairs is waiting for me to go out with him. Love
to all. God bless you, dearest wife.

Ever your afft. husband,

D. McN. Parker.

Notes on the Letters of 1861.

In the Boston letter, Mr. Laurie is probably a brother of
General Laurie. " Tupper " is the doctor (Sir Charles).
Ben Gray is the Halifax lawyer, B. G. Gray. " The Pryors "
are Dr. John Pryor and family. He was Principal of Horton
Academy, in my father's time, was now pastor of the old Cam-
bridge Baptist Church, and shortly afterwards became pastor of
the Granville Street Church, Halifax. Fairbanks and Greenwood
were scions of well known Halifax families.

Mr. Archibald of the New York letters was then, and for many
years afterwards, British Consul at New York. For his services
there he was afterwards knighted. He was a member of the
family of Nova Scotia Archibalds. Samuel Story was a Halifax
man who had removed to New York, and was apparently much
given to relieving the necessities of Haligonians stranded or gone
to the bad in that city. It is too early in the history of some
Halifax families to reveal what he told on the journey from Boston
to New York, and a portion of the letter in which he figures is
therefore omitted. My uncle, Francis G. Parker, was then in
business in New York, and will be recognized as the " Frank "
of these letters. Sir Dominick Daly was the father of Sir Malachi
Daly, and the son referred to in the first New York letter is
doubtless the latter.

My mother's cousin " James," of Philadelphia, was James
Black, son of Samuel, who was the youngest son of Reverend
William Black. Samuel's widow married a Methodist minister
named Taylor who died about 1860. She died in Philadelphia
in 1873. Mrs. Darst was Rebecca Black, her only daughter, and

THE AMERICAN TOUR OF 1861 199

a widow, who removed to Philadelphia with her mother and died
there in 1867.

Miss Dix, mentioned in the Washington letter, was the cele-
brated Dorothea Dix whose efforts on behalf of the insane revolu-
tionized the system of their treatment and stimulated public senti-
ment, everywhere, for the amelioration of their lot. My father
had met her before. She was one of America's greatest women,
and her biography should be read by everyone.

In regard to the Charleston letter of April 15th, it is worthy
of remark that Daniel McNeill's grandson, bearing his name,
should witness Fort Moultrie in action for the first time since the
Revolutionary War, when he himself, on the first occasion when
hostile shot were ever fired from that fort, took part in the assault
upon it.

With further reference to this Charleston letter, my father has
told me that when Major Anderson came ashore from Fort
Sumter as a prisoner of war, he was conducted along the side-
walk past the Mills house, from the steps of which he (my father)
obtained a close inspection of this man who has since figured
among the military heroes of the United States as a history maker*

" The Clan Johnston," at Savannah, is a playful designation
of the family of J. W. Johnson, Sr., whose descent is noted in
the paper on Daniel McNeill and his descendants.

Dr. Crawley, visited at Limestone Springs, South Carolina,
was Dr. Edmund A. Crawley, formerly pastor of the Granville
Street Church, afterwards President of Acadia College, and
who returned to that College as professor in 1866.

" Tom Whitman," found in New York on the return trip, was
one of the Annapolis Whitmans.

The " unprofitable evening service " on Sunday, April 28th
(which, by the way, was my father's thirty-ninth birthday), men-
tioned in the last of these letters, was at the Tabernacle in Brook-
lyn, where the mountebank preacher and savage abolitionist Henry
Ward Beecher conducted his performances, and was one of " the
lions " of the day to be seen and heard by travellers. That even-
ing he preached a farewell sermon (?) to a New York regiment
which was going to the front. The " sermon " was a brutal,
blood-thirsty, blasphemous tirade against the Confederacy, in which
the spirit of the evil one himself would appear to have usurped
the pulpit. At its close, when the orator, by playing upon every
string of the worst human passions, had worked the thousands of
his audience into a sufficient degree of frenzy, he dramatically
announced that a collection would be taken up, to the glory of God,
for the purchase of army revolvers to add to the equipment of
the troops about to go forth, in the strength of the Lord, upon
His service. My father had stood the sermon pretty well, taking

200 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

it as a curious exhibition of the spirit of the times in the North;
" but," said he in relating the incident, " this was too much for
Stairs and me. We buttoned up our pockets and marched out."
Certain pockets had buttons in those days. It is safe to assert
that this was the only church collection he ever evaded.

When travelling, he was accustomed to jot down on paper
facts, statistics and other notes of anything which impressed him
as noteworthy, for future reference, and also brief memoranda
of observations or comment. He was never without a pocket note-
book, at home or abroad. It was part of his dress, almost, like
the pocket stethoscope and instrument case. For the most part,
it had a professional use, but from the hundreds of these little
books which he left might be gathered extracts from his reading,
thoughts, facts, figures, heads of his own public addresses, secular
and religious, and notes of travel, — all strikingly reflective of
himself. Unfortunately, however, his style of note-making was
so terse and elliptical that any attempt to edit them would not be
judicious. No mind but his own could fill out the structure from
the outlined sketches, as he left them. Yet, as an illustration of
his method, and because of the unusual subject-matter, I venture
to reproduce some notes and observations touching upon one or
more aspects of slavery as he saw it in his Southern tour of 1861.

" Sabbath School instruction in Northern and Southern States.
The Nursery of the Church. Arrangements in basements of all
the churches for this object — For Bible Classes and Infant schools
— maps, figures, stories in prints, illustrated.

" Airy rooms — divisions — used for negro service in the after-
noon. Hours early — 9 a.m System of instruc-
tion— both North and South the same as ours

Legal enactments against educating the blacks. To my mind
one of the worst features of slavery and in direct opposition to
Christ's command — go preach, etc., etc. Search the Scriptures, etc.

" The missionary may be sent abroad — he cannot teach the
colored child or man (unless he breaks the law of some of the
States) to read God's precious Word at home — for obvious reasons
— they are orally instructed — and religious men (I use the
term advisedly) on the Sabbath, on their estates where there is
no church near, collect their slaves and families together and read
and expound God's word to them — as in Mr. Smith's case at
Beaufort. As a people the blacks are not anxious for education —
at least if they yearned for it as a people they could in secret obtain
it, but not publicly. Some of them are very apt to learn.
Mr. Smith's lad instructed in three days by another — lying down
on the grass — observed by his master with a spy glass, and when

THE AMEEICAN TOUR OF 1861 201

they noticed that they were objects of attention, moved their posi-
tion— but in three days when the stranger left, the slave could
read.

" No Sabbath school instruction for them as a class. At Raleigh
my Baptist friend told me that the different denominations united
for this purpose and had a union school — but a significant fact
is to be observed — it fell through. Religious men touch this
matter of direct Scriptural teaching, to this class, tenderly.
I occasionally broached the subject in delicate and suggestive
language — but found always that the ground was boggy. We gen-
erally, I may say invariably got stuck fast, could not advance, but
retreated and branched off by some other track — Dr. Curtis' son
teaching a class on Sunday. Blacks, mostly Baptists and Metho-
dists.

" Their privileges. Cannot give testimony in courts of justice
against white men. To strike a white man would be almost
death. ' Can a nigger swear agin a white man in your country?'
— said by a freeman (to me).

Curfew Bell in Charleston — Savannah — and Spartanburg —
In latter place left the church, Methodist, at first curfew.

" Police force always large. In Savannah 100 men — of whom
twenty are horsemen. Slaves cannot carry firearms and know not
how to use them.

" This system dwarfs their intellect and unfits them for intel-
lectual or physical organization. Hence not so dangerous or
dreaded by their masters as if they were educated.

" Are not allowed to drink. Heavy fines imposed on those who
sell liquor — consequently are a temperate class — good, and almost
the only good about the system, except that they are well fed.

" Their diet — Hours of work small — Make money and often
purchase themselves, and I presume being considered thus as
property and talked of as such — a man may be said correctly
to own himself.

" MeXeills — Timber gang leave work on Wednesday. Their
tasks — not heavy. 350 hands cotton picking the average.

" Their privileges — Cow, pis;, hens, rice, potatoes, doctors.

" Happy in the evening with their music and their games.

" Imitative qualities — Their wood cries, like a railroad whistle
— on rafts between Cape Fear and Fayetteville.

" Like children — lose their clothes.

" Respectful and quiet and orderly.

" Affectionate, as in the First Baptist chapel, at the tombstone
in Charleston — touching scene.

" Their freedom is not to be brought about suddenly, but by
gradual legislation. Education an essential element, and of this
a large part should be religious instruction to fit them morally and

202 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

intellectually for their change of position and status. Northern
men who know the South and have studied the question concur in
this opinion. Violent abolitionists, who only think and speak of
freedom and the chains, would have them suddenly uplifted.
It would be ruinous to them, morally and spiritually.

" The free negro — who evidently wished them free as air —
said (to me) ' Lord, Mar'sr, they all starve.'

" If conquered and brought back into the Union they will still
retain slavery within its present bounds and limits, doubtless
looking eventually to future relief and final but gradual emancipa-
tion from the present thraldom."

My impression is that these notes were designed as the outline
for some public address to be given after his return home.

CHAPTER VI.

1861 to 1871.

" The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man.
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame.'"

— James Russell Lowell.

In the closing letter of the series in the chapter just concluded,
the writer said : " I have made up my mind that it will be neces-
sary for me to work less than ever I have done, and what work I
do will have to be professional. I have suffered long with my head,
and, worked as I am, to continue slaving myself will be more
than injudicious."

Though he did not adhere to this self-imposed prescription for
his case, he did follow a resolution he made to break away more
frequently for recreation, and from this time his " runs," as he
called his brief trips in the various Provinces and the Eastern
States, became more frequent. One favorite and healthful diver-
sion was a drive of a week or two with my mother through some
favorable section of Nova Scotia, using his own horse and carriage.
A place frequently resorted to in New Brunswick was Fredericton,
to visit the Wilmots and enjoy the delights of the St. John river
and " Evelyn Grove." He took more time, too, for combining
recreation with professional profit in attending meetings of various
medical societies, both in the upper and lower provinces.

His outing for 1862 was in company with an old friend and
patient, Mr. Robert Morrow, of Halifax, who was travelling for
health's sake. They sailed from Halifax on September 10th, in
a Greek steamship bound up the St. Lawrence. The letters which
follow will tell of this tour, and other things.

River St. Lawrence,

Near the Island of Bic,
September 13th, 1862.

Saturday, 6 p.m.
My Dearest Fanny, —

We have arrived thus far on our voyage with nothing to alloy
its pleasure. After parting from you and waving adieus to the
children at the cottage I took a cup of coffee at breakfast by way
of an introduction to the table. The passage to the Gut of Canso
was delightful. We entered its narrow part at 8.30 o'clock on

203

204 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

Thursday morning and had a delightful sail through its beauti-
ful and varied scenery (which Capt. Ewing says closely resembles
the Bosphorus) ; passed outside of Prince Edward Island, not far
from the shore, near to but not in sight of the Magdalen Islands,
and then shaped our course for Gaspe, the nearest Canadian land.
Since making this point we have passed the dreaded island of
Anticosti — but not to see it — and have had the Labrador coast on
our starboard side nearly all day while running within four miles
of the Canadian land, examining as we pass them, with our
glasses, the numerous villages, churches and fishermen's houses
which skirt the shore, while rising, amphitheatre-like, in the rear
is a range of mountains very elevated, so much so at one point as
to measure 3,973 feet above the level of the water it overlooks.
Altogether the scenery is bold and picturesque, made up as it is
of so many elements of interest. Until last night the sea and
gulf have been as placid as the first lake at Dartmouth on a fine
day. We had then heavy squalls with thunder and lightning for
an hour, after which it settled down and became calm or com-
paratively so, but I was disturbed in the stomach while dressing,
and could not appear at breakfast, but made up for the omission at
12 and 3 when the luncheon and dinner bells rang. Yesterday
the wind came from the Canadian land hot and almost oppressive.
In the evening it was like a West Indian night and we paced the
deck until 11 o'clock — thinly clad — viewing the sheet lightning
far away on the Labrador coast. To-day the wind comes over
the high lands of Labrador from the icy regions beyond, so cold
and chilly that we have all taken to our greatcoats, and I am
writing by a cosy bright fire which burns, home-like, in a large
and familiar-looking grate, making us all look and feel happy and
comfortable. Our captain, Ewing by name, is a very gentlemanly
man, and a good and watchful sailor, always at his post. His
first officer is also a fine sailor-like man, well educated, who has
been for years with this captain in the Australian and Mediter-
ranean trade. He knew the Coxworthys out in Australia and was
asking after them. The second officer is a Mr. Parrot, a nephew of
Mr. Bourinot, of Sydney. He knows the Marshalls well. These
two officers, with the chief engineer, dine in the cabin with us.
The only cabin passengers besides Morrow and myself are Mr.
Mellidew, an Edinburgh medical student, and his young brother,
a lad about thirteen years of age, — the sons of the charterer of
the ship, who are taking advantage of this good opportunity to
see something of America. Their father is a London merchant,
and one of his clerks, a Mr. Jacobson — a Dane — is on board also
as supercargo. You have now a list and some idea of our com-
panions of the past four days. The ship is a splendid vessel of
nearly 1,000 tons and about 400 horse-power. She is owned by a

1861 TO 1871 205

Greek merchant in London, and is named the " Mavroeordatos "
after a friend of the owner, who delights in this lengthy handle —
and who, until recently, was minister of finance to King Otho,
of Greece. This, then, is the explanation of the mystery that hung
round the unusual name of the ship in which you saw your hus-
band embark. We have amused ourselves principally with eating
and drinking, any amount of deck exercise, quoits — using Indian
rubber quoits instead of iron, watching the ship's company at
their work — occasionally splitting our sides with laughter when
Jack is in chase of the pigs — five of which are on board, of small
size and with short bristles and most of them without tails. Every
now and then they are turned out from their coops for air and
exercise and then the whole ship's company set to work to catch
them when their health has been thus improved. Such a row and
such fun! We big children enjoy it almost as much as Johnston
and Mary Ann or Willie would. Besides this the crew and a fore
passenger give us nightly concerts with the flute and other instru-
ments. Then I have always my books to fall back upon, or if not
my own, those of somebody else. I have read Wilkie Collins'
" Dead Secret," Longfellow's " Evangeline " and am now at
" Hiawatha." These latter bear reading over and over again.
" British India " I shall be next at. Tell Mary Ann and dear
little Willie that we have brought any quantity of little birds
from Xova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. They came on
board exhausted and became so tame that they ran all about our
feet as unconcerned as if they had been reared in a house. One
or two came into the cabin while we were at meals. Young Ross
Mellidew, urged on by Morrow and myself, put some salt on the
tail of one and then seized the bird amid shouts of laughter. This
is the first prize of the kind that I have ever seen taken in this
way. I can well recollect when I was not so successful as I chased
the sparrows and robins from field to field wasting salt to no
purpose. We are just off Father Point, the first station for
pilots, and the mate is carrying up powder to fire a cannon to
bring one on board. I hope he will bring us some late American
news — as we are languishing for it, not having seen a telegram or
paper now for three days or more. If we learn that " Washing-
ton is safe " — in the hands of the Southerners, and Baltimore
also, none on board will weep for the calamity that has befallen
" the greatest nation and the best government on the face of the
earth." George Francis Train, of English Tram railway notoriety,
and the great stump orator for the Union in England, came out
to Halifax in this ship and left her for the United States as soon
as she reached port. I should think they had pretty high times
on board during his stay, from what I can learn. He is an ultra
and a most violent Yankee, and all on board beside were John

206 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Bulls and a trifle " secesh " in their opinions. Long after mid-
night the arguments and noise went on — but now the sound of such
oral warfare is hushed — we are " all one brother " and cannot so
much as get up an argument. Morrow has improved greatly.
He eats all the time, walks the deck from morning till night, and
sleeps like a top. Tell his wife that he is as jolly as a lord —
indeed I think I may say the same of both of us. As regards sleep
I am making up for lost time and now make a business of it —
there is no retail about it as there was in Halifax. I do the thing
wholesale. Our guns and rockets were answered by rockets and
three lights from the lighthouse at Father Point, but all the pilots
are away. This is the terminal point of the telegraph line on the
St. Lawrence, and Mr. Jacobson has telegraphed to his agents in
Montreal to announce our approach. The telegraph operator inter-
cepts ships and steamers here by a boat and announces their arrival
promptly so that parties in England interested in the shipping of
this great river may get the earliest intelligence of the arrivals
outward.

Quebec, Monday, September 15th. After leaving Father
Point I turned in, and on going on deck at 8 o'clock on Sunday
morning found our gallant ship in charge of a French pilot, who
had been brought on board by our guns and rockets when off the
Island of Bic, 150 miles below Quebec. Our sail up the St.
Lawrence was delightful. All yesterday was fine, and as far
as the eye could reach, both up and down the river — especially
on the south side — there was to be seen one continuous line of
beautifully white villages and towns, with churches of immense
size studding the whole coast every here and there. The stream
of houses occupies the low lands near the margins of the river,
while stretching far back up the sides of the hills and mountains
are the cultivated farms all regularly laid out and divided into
narrow strips as the manner of the French is — while far away
in the distance are the mountainous scenery and woodland, adding
additional beauty by giving a bold and picturesque background.
I had not the most remote idea that the population of the St.
Lawrence was anything like as great as it is. I should think
that from Bic to Quebec (inclusive) it must amount to nearly
our whole population. We passed by and between numerous
islands. Gros Island, thirty miles below Quebec, on which the
quarantine establishment of the St. Lawrence is located, arid
Orleans Island, thirty miles in length and densely populated,
stretch along the river and are beautiful objects. At 9 o'clock
last evening we cast anchor below the port, remained on board all
night and disembarked at 6 o'clock this morning, the " Mavro-
cordatos " proceeding onwards to Montreal. We have taken up
our quarters at Russel's hotel where we are very comfortable.

1861 TO 1871 207

After breakfast I went to the post office for letters — found none —
but hope that one may arrive by to-night's mail from you — and
also some Halifax papers, which, if not already sent, ask Mr.
Venables to mail for me as I shall presently direct. I then went
to the military hospital to see Dr. Crerar of the GOth Rifles, who
was greatly surprised and very glad to see me. He showed me
all around the Citadel, from which there is a magnificent view of
the river, the city and the surrounding country, as also of the
Plains of Abraham, where Wolfe and Montcalm met and fell in
battle just as victory crowned the English arms. Monuments
to both have been erected and are objects of great interest to all
visitors. I called at the Governor-General's and saw Lord and
Lady Mulgrave, Lady Laura and Katey. They were all pleased
to see me, and roared when I told them of the coachman and the
'osses. Lord Mulgrave said they wished to telegraph to me to join
them at Shediac and come on with them in the Canadian yacht —
" but they diddle." Of course I took the measure of the com-
pliment. They all leave here this afternoon for Montreal and
Niagara. The delegates have all sloped for Montreal, Niagara
and Boston. The newspapers will give you the result of their
deliberations. I imagine they have spent some money and accom-
plished nothing. Would that it were otherwise for the good of the
country. I hope your father is better. Tell him to take care of
his feet and his stomach and caution Emma to keep the goodies
in the background. Give them all my love. Tell M. A. Binny
to be cautious until my return, and then if she wishes to have a
blow out I will be on hand to correct the after-consequences.
Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Katzman and Anna and all
the neighbors. I hope Johnston is a good and obedient boy,
learning his lessons thoroughly and keeping himself neat and
tidy. Give him a great deal of love from his papa and say all
kinds of loving things to Mary Ann and Willie. Poor little
" Small Potatoes " is yet too young and innocent to appreciate affec-
tionate messages. I shall leave here for Montreal, Kingston and
Niagara in two or three days and you may look for us in the
next Boston steamer unless we should change our minds, of which
you will be duly apprised. Ever, dearest Fanny,
Your affectionate husband,

D. McN. Parker.

P.S. — The steamer has ceased to run on the pleasure trips to
the river Saguenay so I shall miss seeing its beautiful scenery.
It would have taken us three days to accomplish the thing. So this
will be something in store for you, my dear wife, at some future
day — when we will visit it together. I very much wish you were
my travelling companion now. I often think of you and our dear

208 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

ones and pray that God will spare our lives to meet again, and
that we may, by His grace, be enabled to bring up those entrusted
to our care for a time in the fear and love of Him who died for
them and for us. Say to Mr. Johnston that I shall see Minnie.
I very much regret not having seen him before leaving. I did
not know that he had returned until the afternoon preceding my
departure. I wish you would open all letters — and tell Venables
to reply in accordance with circumstances to those that he can
attend to. We have no news from the contending armies that
can be relied on. The general impression here is that the
Northern army is disorganized and demoralized by repeated
defeats and bad handling, and that they (the soldiers and officers)
are growing restive and hard to manage and keep in check. I hope
your letter will bring me cheering news from Foster. Write to
him, dear Fanny, and call his attention to the one thing needful,
the salvation of his soul. A word in season now while God is
afflicting his body may prove of incalculable benefit to his never
dying spirit. I long to hear all about your movements — what
you are doing, how the children are getting on, — in short, all
that a loving wife can write and tell a loving husband. What of
Dr. Pryor's sermon on Sunday, and the attendance ? Who has
charge of my Bible class ? Please call and see Mr. Selden relative
to it. I came away in such a hurry that I could not make pro-
vision for it. I hope he has done so. It should be looked after by
some competent person every Lord's day, so that the scholars may
not stray away and become careless. The " Arabia " leaves
Boston, Wednesday, October 1st, and we will, God willing, be
with you on her. As soon as this reaches you write to me immedi-
ately at the " Clifton House, Niagara, Canada." Tell Johnston to
enclose me a letter and tell me all about his success in reference
to the half dollar prize — as also how he is getting on with his
fun and frolics. The dinner bell has just rimg. So farewell,
dearest wife.

D. P.

Call and see Mrs. Morrow as soon as you can and tell her all
about our run, as Morrow's head will not stand writing very well
as yet, and she will wish to hear all about him.

Quebec, Wednesday, September 17th, 1862.
My Dear Wife, —

Ere taking our departure from this city, which we do to-day at
4 o'clock p.m., by steamer "Columbia" for Montreal, I will
occupy a few minutes by giving you a few of my jottings by
the way. Yesterday we unexpectedly found Tremain Twining's
name on the hotel books and soon announced ourselves to him.

1861 TO 1871 209

Morrow has a friend here, J. J. W., formerly a merchant of Hali-
fax, but now in business here. He has been very kind in show-
ing us the lions, and in tit is tray has discharged a bill which he
left on my books when taking his departure from Xova Scotia.
I have also met Dr. Miles of the Artillery, and yesterday paid a
very pleasant visit to my old patients the Peters', who were in
Halifax living in Brunswick Street during the construction of
the new barracks. They came near eating me up, and the old
mother, a French-Canadian woman, almost embraced me. They
have a very lively recollection of the kindness of the Halifax
people, and take every opportuity of reciprocating. You will
remember Mrs. Simon Peters, who was a passenger with us when
we came on to Canada after our marriage. After closing my
last letter, under W.'s guidance we embarked in a carriage to
inspect more closely the Plains of Abraham and the heights up
which Wolfe carried his army ere engaging Montcalm. The in-
scription on his small and unimposing monument briefly but elo-
quently tells the result as far as that brave man is concerned.
It reads : " Here fell Wolfe, September 13th, 1759." They might
have added the word " victorious " — but soldiers generally like
brevity, unless they belong to the neighboring Union, and this
monument having been erected by soldiers to his memory on the
very spot where he fell, tells the tale of a nation's loss in as few
words as possible. From this we drove to Spencer's Wood, the
beautiful seat of the former Governors of Lower Canada. The
residence was destroyed some years since by fire and a large and
commodious building is only now being placed on the site of the
old one. It is a brick structure and the Peters' have the contract.
The drives through the grounds are extensive and English park-
like. We next visited the cemetery, which has natural beauties,
and these are aided by art, but it cannot be named in comparison
with those of Boston, Xew York, and Philadelphia, all of which
you have seen. On our way there we came across quite a large
encampment of gypsies. We got out of the carriage and went to
inspect their cold and dreary-looking houses or camps, and to
converse with them. As much as I have travelled through Eng-
land and Scotland I never before fell in with any of the tribe-
Their tents are merely bent sticks covered with blankets and
closely resemble the covering of our ice carts. They are about
six or eight feet long by six in width, closed at one end and open
at the other, not nearly so warm or comfortable either for summer
or winter as our Indian camps. Their fires are all outside their
camps, on stones. They had any quantity of children, some of
them perhaps stolen from more comfortable English homes. This
encampment has but recently arrived here from Devonshire, Eng-
land. They say they live by trading in horses, but I presume the

210 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

hen-roosts, gardens and potato fields suffer — as they are looked
upon on the other side of the Atlantic as notorious thieves, and
it is not probable that this propensity has been left behind in the
Old Country. I noticed by the morning paper I brought away with
me from Halifax that an encampment of five or six had reached
Halifax. Look out for dear little Willie that he is not stolen!
Our drive back was along the beautiful valley of the St. Charles
River, on which not many years ago the vessel that Jacques
Cartier arrived at Quebec in was discovered, so report says, buried
fifteen feet below the surface by alluvial deposit. She has pro-
bably remained there at rest since 1535. Quebec more closely
resembles Edinburgh than any other place I have seen, and, were
it not for the near proximity of the river, the bold and high rock
on which the castle and fortifications stand might readily be taken
for that of Edina the fair. It is a walled town entered by numer-
ous gates, at each of which a military guard is stationed. The
suburbs are extensive, but on the whole, the city has a dilapidated
appearance, and, architecturally speaking, is not to be compared
with Halifax. One is struck by the vast size of the churches
(Roman Catholic). These are not only large, but numerous to
an extent that one could hardly anticipate, having a knowledge
of the population. On Tuesday afternoon we visited the Lunatic
Asylum, an extensive structure, not modern in its appearance
or appliances, but sufficiently large to hold between 400 and 500
patients. We were kindly received, and shown through all the
building. We then visited the celebrated fall of Montmorency, —
small in breadth when compared to Niagara, but 100 feet greater
in height. The scenery there is majestic and the fall would be a
perfect wonder to one who had not already visited the leviathan
Niagara. Its waters are made use of to drive the machinery of
saw mills and manufactories. Close to the fall is the residence of
the late Duke of Kent, a beautiful building owned by a Mr. Hall,
who also possesses the Falls and much land on either side of the
river up as far as what is termed the " Natural Steps," a most
romantic spot and a perfect curiosity in its way. The Prince of
Wales was most interested in this spot, the more so, as it once was
the abode of his grandfather. Over these Falls, right on their brink,
was erected a few years ago a suspension bridge, which one morning
fell with two or three people and a horse and wagon on it.
Of course eternity was speedily present to the unhappy victims,
and nothing was ever heard of them after. A remarkable story
is told of the escape of a gentleman and his horse and wagon,
through the instinct of the animal. Nothing on earth could force
the animal over, although accustomed to the crossing. The man
had his feet on the bridge, and was tugging and thrashing the
poor horse, when in an instant the anchors of the opposite side

1861 TO 1871 211

gave way and he was miraculously saved by the backing of his
horse. The race to the mills and a minor fall are also objects
of interest, and have connected with them some harrowing tales
of death to the venturesome. The drive out and back to Quebec
was about seven or eight miles in length each way (1G in all)
and it was through one continuous village of " habitants " or
French settlers. Every here and there could be seen one of the
immense chapels, just referred to, while small roadside chapels
and crosses more conveniently placed for the passers-by and market
people, who are devotionally inclined, attract the sight. Here in
early morn and late at night these simple farmers bend the knee to
crosses and saints — and call it worshipping God, while their beads
are counted and their patron saint invoked, rather than the one
true God.

This morning (Wednesday) we sallied forth to visit the large
Marine Hospital, and were much gratified by the visit and the
attention shown us. The visit was profitable in a professional
point of view.

Montreal, Thursday, September 18th.

We sailed in the " Columbia " at 4 p.m., and had a delightful
sail through magnificent and varied scenery for eighty miles,
when I retired for the night, and awoke to find myself here.
I slept soundly and well. The boat was full of passengers, and
among the deck people, we discovered a number of gypsies bound
higher up the St. Lawrence. We are at the St. Lawrence Hall.
Here we found Edmund Twining, and Tremain Twining follows
us up by to-night's boat. We were disappointed at not receiving
letters before leaving Quebec, but I forgot to tell you to direct
them by " Express mail via St. John and Portland." Had they
been thus addressed we would have received them before leaving.

After breakfast we sallied forth and the first

person we tumbled over was Mr. Ferrier, who very kindly offered
us every attention and has been acting as our guide to the
Exchange, the Victoria bridge and the water works — all objects
of interest and profitable to an observer in many ways. You
will recollect the Bridge. When last here with you, Wilmot and
the gentlemen of our party were all down in the bottom of the
St. Lawrence in the coffer-dams, seeing the foundation laid. JSTow,
as a special favor granted to Mr. Ferrier, we have been shown
the minutiae of the superstructure. It is a magnificent work —
the masterpiece of scientific engineering. I bought at the bridge
a lithograph of the structure as it appears, both in winter and
summer, so that we may be reminded in after years, if we are
spared to grow old and gray, that I was at the bottom of the great
and rapid St. Lawrence — even below its natural bed, and after-

212 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

wards walked over its surface, suspended on iron. We shall
leave here in two or three days for Ottawa city, viewing, as we
ascend the river of that name, the fine scenery of its bank ; thence
we will go by boat and train to Kingston to see Minnie, and from
there to Niagara — after which we will go to Boston direct, and
take the next boat, two weeks from yesterday — at least these are our
present plans, and .unless they are providentially interrupted, will
be carried out. As we shall be moving about so constantly I would
like you to address all letters and papers to me at the Eevere
House, Boston, and I trust I shall have a feast on my arrival in
that city. I need tell you nothing of this city. It has not altered
materially in appearance since you were here — but has in extent.
About 500 stone or brick buildings have been erected annually
ever since the date of our visit, and this year its population is
101,000 (one hundred and one thousand) an increase of over
20,000 since 1854. This afternoon I go with Mr. Muir, a son-
in-law of Dr. Cramp, to visit a new and elegant Baptist chapel
that is to be opened here in two weeks from this time, also
the vast and beautiful English Cathedral, which I am told is the
finest building of the kind on this continent. I have not seen
any newspapers (of Halifax) since leaving, and this afternoon
must go to the Exchange and have a read of the latest dates there.
I am rather down, because Lee and Jackson are not inside instead
of outside Washington and Baltimore. I fear my Confederate
friends have got rather the worst of it, notwithstanding their
success at Harper's Ferry. Better luck the next time, I hope.
Would that the war would come to an end and peace once more
reign throughout our continent. What evils, privations, horrors
and everything that one's mind can conjure up attend the battle-
field and the country through which contending armies pass and
meet in strife. God grant that our happy little Province may
always be exempt from such direful evils and distress.

I long to learn something of you and the dear children. I was
dreaming of you all last night, and often do so. May God grant
that we may all meet again at home in health and strength. . .

I hope your father is himself again and that he will avoid
all the exciting causes of such attacks ; but whether careful or
careless, I daresay he will occasionally have slight " twinges " of
the enemy in his understanding. Morrow still suffers a little with
his head, but is much improved since leaving — in strength, appetite
and obtaining rest at night. Poor fellow, I trust that he will be
eventually quite restored to fill the useful position in our Province
which he must occupy from his talents and tastes if life and
strength are continued to him. What of poor Foster? I long to
hear from him or of him. When you write, please give my love
to him and all at Walton. Col. Ben i-j to be stationed at Quebec

1861 TO 1871 213

I hear. Mr. Duncan is on the small island opposite Montreal
and in the centre of the river. It must be a delightful spot to
reside on in summer.

And now, my dearest wife, farewell. You will probably hear
from me again ere my return — probably from Niagara or Kings-
ton. With kindest regards to all at the cottage, Kate's, the Mount,
Belle Vue, the Binneys, etc., etc. Ever your affectionate husband.

D. McN. Parker.

P.S. — Address " Dr. Parker, to arrive at The Revere House,
Boston." Tell Tupper if you see him to write me. I have seen
the names of the Hamiltons on the Quebec hotel book, but
have not met them. The L.'s . . . are apparently travelling
with them. Tell little Willie papa will soon be at home again.
Say to Johnston that I should enjoy a nice little note from him
very much. Kiss dear Mary Ann arid Laura McNeill for Papa.
May God preserve and protect you, dear wife. I must hasten
to mail this hurriedly written scrawl.

Recollect: — "By Express mail via St. John & Portland."
Put this on the top of the envelope and pay the postage, which will
be something extra. D. P.

Kingston, C. W.,

September 23rd, 1862,

Tuesday, 2 P.M.
My Dearest Wife, —

You will remember our stopping at the wharf of this city
just ere we commenced running through the Thousand Islands,
one morning at break of day, when from our little stateroom
window we got a peep at the nearest building and I stepped out
on the pier merely that I might say I had been in Kingston.
Well, at that time I hardly ever expeetcd to see it again, but after
an interval of eight years I find myself addressing a letter to my
dear companion of that voyage, from the interior of the same city.
I forgot to mention in my last that I had met James Mitchell,
who kindly invited me to accept the hospitalities of his house,
which I was unable to do, Robt. Willis, Duncan McDonald (form-
erly railway contractor in Nova Scotia, whose family I attended
in Halifax at John Butler's, Bedford), and strange to say, Francis
R. Parker and daughter, of Shubenacadie, who are staying out of
Montreal with Judge Monk. How he came to know the Judge
I cannot imagine, and did not ask. On the day we were out at
the Hostermans', at the wedding, you will recollect that we went
through the Iron Rolling Works — but did not see the metal pass-
ing through all its varied changes until it comes out in sheets.

214 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Well, in Montreal, I have seen the operation on a grand and exten-
sive scale. Ferrier took us to a work of this kind in which he
had been interested, where we saw nails of all kinds, from a
carpet tack to a railroad spike, being turned out by the ton,
while the great sheets were rolled off by the quantity, large enough
to satisfy the most needy and ambitious hardware man. These
operations were being performed by men " stripped to the buff "
with only their trousers on, while streams of water ran off them
in perspiration.

I called upon my old friend, the Principal of McGill Univer-
sity, Dr. Dawson, who was pleased to see me and pressed me to
stay with him all the day and evening in order that we might
discuss subjects in Natural Science in which we both take an inter-
est. The library and museum of the College were inspected, and
both are very valuable, well arranged and costly. I was specially
interested in a large collection of Indian relics which he has
recently discovered at the site of the Indian village of Hochelaga,
where Jacques Cartier, in 1535, first met the Indians of this
neighborhood. The history of that remarkable man and his times
tells us much of this celebrated spot, but for a century or more
its exact position has been unknown to man. Dr. Dawson was
the first to point out (last year) the spot so long searched for
and longed after by North American antiquarians. The city in
extending its streets and laying water pipes had occasion to dig
down to a depth of fifteen feet, when the laborers were surprised to
find a quantity of bones of animals. Dr. Dawson at once visited
the place, commenced explorations, and found a vast quantity of
the remains of a large village, such as the bones of all the animals
of the country used as food, pipes, pottery, the places where their
cooking had been done, Indian corn prepared for cooking, etc., etc.
The site of this ancient and extinct village or Indian town is
just under half a mile or more below the spot where we sat when
we ascended the summit of the mountain — about two-thirds down
the slope and near to the upper residences. Dawson also kindly
gave me a note of introduction to Sir Wm. E. Logan, the great
Provincial geologist of Canada, and we had an interesting inspec-
tion of the best geological museum in the world. The museum
of the Natural History Society, of Canada, was also thrown open
to us, through the same influence, so that altogether I may say
that we had a feast of science on the last day of our stay in Mon-
treal,— which we wound up in the evening by asking Capt.
Ewing, Mr. Jacobson and the first officer of the " Mavrocordatos "
to dine with us at our hotel, the St. Lawrence Hall. Tremain
and Edmund Twining who were staying at the hotel joined our
table at dessert, so altogether we had a pleasant little party, which

1861 TO 1871 215

broke up early, at 8V2 P-m- I drank cold water, which did not
agree with the tobacco smoke of my six smoking friends, as all
the next day it made me feel sickish. On Saturday morning
at 6I/2 o'clock, we left for Lachine, a village just above
the rapids of that name on the other side of the Island of
Montreal, when we embarked on a steamer for Ottawa. To avoid
the rapids on a portion of the river we had to leave the boat and
cross by railroad over a distance of 12 miles to Grenville where
another steamer was waiting for us. We reached the capital of
Canada (that is to be) about 7 o'clock in the evening. The river
scenery is beautiful in many places. Every here and there the
river expands into small lakes, as at the Lake of the Two Moun-
tains, which gives expanse and variety to the scene as we rapidly
glide up stream against the current at a rate of fifteen miles an
hour. At the first village we crossed the old boundary between
Upper and Lower Canada, and at Ottawa City, formerly called
Bytown, the river formed the boundary. We passed immense
rafts on the way, under tow of steam tugs, some of which had
several small houses on them and were manned by between 30
and 50 lumbermen. All these rafts had run the rapids of the
river by what are called the timber slides. The Ottawa river
furnishes now by far the greater part of the timber shipped from
Canada at Montreal and Quebec. As we neared the city the
scenery became altered from low to elevated and deeply indented
river banks, most beautiful and picturesque at the place where
the Capital stands. These high and very steep banks are wooded
from summit to base by dense groves of beautiful cedar. The
first part of our trip we had Robert Duport as a fellow-passenger,
and at one of the lumbering villages on the way, were joined
by Mr. Menzies of the Bank of B. N". America. He is the young
man who is to marry one of the Miss Cochrans. He was
particular in his enquiries after Mr. and Mrs. Binney and your
father. On the following day we walked out to see the two
celebrated falls and rapids, which indeed could be observed
from my bedroom windows, but as they were near we inspected
them more closely. Both are grand and well worth a visit. They
are called the Rideau and Chaudiere falls and rapids, and here it
was that the Prince of Wales ran the rapids on a timber
slide, which we could not do, the day being the Sabbath.
Along the banks and far back from the Ottawa on tributary
streams are the finest and largest sawmills of Canada, driven
of course by water-power. In the lower Provinces we have no
idea of the magnitude of the lumber business of this great
country — and the deals and lumber that we have seen piled up
awaiting sale would astonish you. Just opposite our hotel was

216 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

the great Parliamentary Square on which the most extensive
and magnificent buildings for this purpose that I have ever seen
out of Washington and London are in course of construction.
Their extent you may conceive of when I tell you that by a cal-
culation made in one of the local newspapers by its editor, the
three steam engines required to heat the buildings by steam
will consume annually seventeen thousand cords of wood. The
City of Ottawa is just like a large village spreading itself over
a large extent of country; its population is only sixteen thousand.
Morrow and I went to a small Baptist church (just being erected)
in the morning. The Sunday School was going on in the vestry
when we entered, and the sermon was preached by a clever young
man, in the same place. I went to the same place in the even-
ing and heard the same man. The Hamiltons and L's.
were before us here also. Morrow and I occupied the same apart-
ments as Mary Ann and Mrs. John used when there. I notice
that William is rather proud of the Black blood that runs in
his veins — as everywhere I meet with his name on the hotel
books, it is " W. Black Hamilton," the William being sunk in
the more distingue name of Black. It was great fun for Morrow
and me to listen to the hotel-keeper's account of the affection that
exists between Mr. and Mrs. L. He said he never saw a couple
more affectionate, although they were far from being coupled as to
age, — and the word was perpetually " Geordie dear " ; " Yes,
Freddie dear !" The hotel man was Yorkshire all over, and the
best part of the joke was to hear it from his Yorkshire lips with
all the brogue. On Monday morning we took the train and
arrived at Prescott, where our party left the cholera steamer and
crossed over to Ogdensburg in 1854. Here we had to remain
from 9.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. before the arrival of the Grand Trunk
train for this place, which was reached at 4 o'clock in the after-
noon. The drive was through a sandy and consequently dusty
soil, the country thinly inhabited. After dining I drove over to
Col. Ingall's to make enquiries relative to Minnie's abode. They
were very glad to see me and pressed me to dine with them a
second time. Ingall sent his servant out to ascertain whether
Agnes was at the Revd. Mr. Rodgers' or at Waterloo, a country
village four miles out of Kingston close to the cemetery, where
Minnie has lately taken lodgings. The reply was, that she was at
Mrs. Greenwood's, where they formerly lodged. On driving there
I found her with the Rynds, who have temporarily gone into
these lodgings. Agnes, having heard from her father that I was
on my way, fully expected me. We then went on to their lodgings
out of town. ... It was quite dark when I reached her
lodgings, and Agnes not finding her (Minnie) in the house, well

1861 TO 1871 217

knew where she was to be found. So she went to the cemetery
to bring her home and to announce my arrival. After breakfast
I visited the military hospital, by the request of Dr. Alden, who
was stationed some time in Halifax, and there met Ewing. At
10 o'clock I drove out to Waterloo again and found Minnie more
composed and inclined to talk about her health and future pros-
pects. I think she has pretty well made up her mind to leave this
in two or three weeks, first for Newport, Rhode Island, and then
later in the season for Prince Edward Island. . . . Col.
and Mrs. Ingall have done everything they could for her and are
never tired of extending to her acts of sympathy and friendship.
I called on Dr. Yates, the civil practitioner who was called to see
Wilkieson in his last hours, but he was absent and I failed to see
him. His family live in summer about four miles out of Kingston,
and he had probably gone there. I went to the cemetery to see
the spot where Wilkieson's remains are placed. It is a beautiful
spot and the headstone is in the form of a cross of white marble,
with appropriate inscription and surrounded by an iron railing.

I leave by the Ontario boat for Toronto at six this evening to
visit the great Industrial Exhibition of Canada being held there
just now. On Thursday, if God wills, we shall go to Niagara
either by boat or train, according as the lake is tranquil or the
contrary. I have a very vivid recollection of our last crossing
Ontario from Niagara and the sail down to this place — formerly
the Capital of Upper Canada. The day is beautiful and the lake
calm, and we hope to have as pleasant a run up to Toronto as you
and I had from thence in 1854. ... I long to hear from you
and all at Halifax. We were obliged to leave Montreal before
your letters had arrived, a great disappointment, but on reaching
Niagara I hope to get them, as Tremain Twining said he would
forward them there from the St. Lawrence Hall whence they
would arrive from Quebec. I long again to hear the prattle of
the children and to be at home in the enjoyment of all those bless-
ings which God has so abundantly given me and which constitute
what one may truthfully say in my case, a happy home. I'm
homesick and would be off to-morrow if I could reach Halifax any
earlier for the early departure. Morrow's health still improves.
He has just written to his wife. Kind love to all at Belle Vue,
the Cottage, Mount, Kate's, the Binneys, Nuttings, &c, &c. And
now, dearest wife, with much love for yourself and kisses to John-
ston (if he will accept them now that he has got into jacket and
trousers), Mary Ann, Willie and Laura,

I remain ever your afft. husband,

D. McN. Parker.

218 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Notes on the Letters of 1862.

First letter: Mr. Venables (afterwards the doctor) was then
bookkeeper and dispensing clerk at the office.

The story of " the coachman and the 'osses " concerns one of
the nouveaux riches then climbing in Halifax society.

The peculiar word used by the Earl of Mulgrave illustrates a
difficulty in pronouncing his " n's " which his Lordship had. He
had just preceded my father from Halifax, on a visit to Viscount
Monck, who was then Governor-General of Canada. Lord Mul-
grave succeeded Sir Gaspard LeMarchant as Lieutenant-Governor
of Nova Scotia in 1858.

" The delegates " were the representatives of the Provinces
who were discussing Union at Quebec and who in the next month
evolved the Quebec Scheme of Confederation.

Second letter: Edmund and Tremaine Twining were well
known Halifax business men.

Mr. Ferrier was a resident of Montreal.

" Minnie " was Mr. J. W. Johnston's daughter, the widow
of Major Wilkieson (I think of the 16th Regiment) who had
recently died at Kingston, which was then a garrison town.
She and her sister Agnes are referred to in the next letter.

Dr. Cramp was the President of Acadia College.

" The Hamiltons " were cousins of my mother.

Third letter: Francis R. Parker appears in the Parker
genealogy at an early page of this narrative.

Dr. Dawson became afterwards Sir William Dawson, the well
known author in the field of science, more particularly in geology.

Late in the summer of 1863, there was an excursion in Prince
Edward Island and New Brunswick, with visits by the way at
Amherst and Moncton, where he was called in consultation.
Letters from Moncton are chiefly of a domestic character. At
Charlottetown he visited William A. Johnston, son of the Attorney-
General of Nova Scotia, who was then practising law there. In a
letter to my mother, written there, August 27th, 1863, occurs this
domestic item, which will, no doubt, interest certain of the
grandchildren. " Tell Willie, dear boy, that Papa is very sorry
Mama had to spank him for running into the hall, but that Papa
is very glad Mama had the firmness to do it. Spare the rod and
spoil the child." This incident has faded from the memory of
the party most interested, who was then in his third year. The
writer adds: "Tell dear Johnston to let me hear from him."
In the same letter there occurs this characteristic touch, in
referring to the case of a former patient whose case had now
become desperate. " Poor S ! It would be better for him to be

1861 TO 1871 219

consulting ' the Great Physician ' than ' the Pathy.' When God
calls may he be ready to go. Medicine for the soul is what is
often wanted to produce mental and physical comfort."

The concluding letter of the series written on this tour is
as follows :

" 9.30 P.M., Woodstock, KB.,

" Wednesday night,

" September 3rd, 1863.

" Here I am once more in a place where I can get a room to
write in, being comfortably stowed away for the night at the
Blanchard House. After closing my letter at Fredericton on
Monday morning I took the box seat outside the Woodstock
coach and after a lovely drive through beautiful scenery (river
and highland) reached this place at 6.30 p.m. I enjoyed the
drive more than I would have done the sail by steamer up the
river, as by the latter mode of conveyance one could get very
little idea of the country beyond the banks of the stream, whereas
from the coach road one sees all the river scenery as well as that
for miles beyond. It is a beautiful country, not merely to look
upon, but in an agricultural sense, and is becoming thickly
populated. When I left Fredericton I had not concluded as to
where my steps would next be directed. I wanted to see the
Grand Falls, and at the same time I wanted to cross the Bay of
Fundy on Thursday (to-morrow) to Digby, as I was feeling-
homesick and desirous once more of seeing all the inmates of the
little cottage by the Dartmouth Cove. However, as I was within
seventy-five miles of the Falls and might never have the oppor-
tunity of visiting them again, I concluded at last to go on. There
being no day coach I was obliged to travel all Monday night.
We started at 8 p.m. from Blanchard's hotel. I was the only
passenger for forty miles. The road was good but very hilly
and extremely narrow, with numerous bridges, the approaches to
which were generally at the bottom of very steep hills. I had
not been long in the wagon (an open one) before I made the
discovery that the coachman was unfit for the post, as he could
not keep awake five minutes at a time, so I had to spend the live
long night (and a cold one it was for the season) watching him
and arousing him in time to apply the brakes to avoid being
tossed over the bridges. I wanted him to let me drive, but he
would not. Fortunately the horses were very steady, although
in high condition and very fast. Indeed the horses here on all
the coach lines are far superior in flesh, condition and speed to
any on the coach lines of ISTova Scotia. I was very thankful
when at 6 o'clock a.m. we arrived at Newcom's Inn (kept by a

220 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Cornwallis man), Tobique. I got myself well warmed by a
comfortable barroom fire and took my breakfast with a wild,
rough party of lumbermen. There was one very tall, gentle-
manly, well-dressed person of the party whose features looked
familiar, but for the life of me I could not recollect where I had
met him. He looked at me as if he had some knowledge of me.
As he sat next me at the table I got into conversation with
him and a reference to Nova Scotia caused him to state that he
was a native of that Province. I then asked his name and he
told me that it was Alexander Eaton and that Cornwallis was
his former home. " What !" said I, " Is it Sandy Eaton ?" " Yes."
"Well I'm Dan Parker." Such a shaking of hands then took
place " as you never did see." He was a favorite school companion
of mine at Horton, and although I have often enquired about him
I had never been able to hear anything of his whereabouts since
we parted in 1837. Many's the lark we have had together. He
kindly jumped into the coach and drove over to the Grand Falls
with me. We "fought our battles o'er again." He showed me
all the lions of the Falls — introduced me to Sheriff Beckwith — a
cousin of Mayhew Beckwith's, of Cornwallis, who married a
Greenwood, a relation of the Stayners and Greenwoods of Halifax.
This made my visit to the great waterfall of New Brunswick
doubly pleasant. After spending seven or eight hours together
we parted — very likely never to meet again. I was amply paid
for the trouble and fatigue of getting to the Falls by the grand, bold
scenery around this district. The fall itself is broad, the water
descending now seventy feet. When the river is full the vertical
measure is decreased while its breadth is largely increased, and,
of course, the quantity of water thus escaping is much greater.
Just below the Falls I witnessed a great timber jam and a large
number of men engaged in the very dangerous work of starting it.
Not long ago a man thus engaged there was killed and others
narrowly escaped. " The jam " was so great that the logs were
forced down in the water by the superincumbent pressure to the
distance of forty or fifty feet. The men had been working at it
two weeks and it will be two weeks more before they get it all
released. Just below the falls there is a long and very hand-
some suspension bridge. About six years ago it fell, killing some
persons that were on it. The new structure is more secure.
Leaving this locality I crossed the country close to the American
boundary, passing over the Aroostook River and district, about
which there was nearly a war between England and the United
States some years since. The question was long called " the
disputed boundary " and was settled by Lord Ashburton, Eng-
land's Commissioner, giving up England's or rather New Bruns-
wick's rights to the Yankees, and with the settlement a large

1861 TO 1871 221

number of New Brunswickers, much to their annoyance and
chagrin, by a stroke of Ashburton's pen were converted in a
moment into citizens of the United States. They thus left New
Brunswick and entered the State of Maine. At the mouth of
the Tobique River I stopped at a large Indian village, and after
viewing their chapel, farms, burial grounds, and visiting the
interior of some of their houses, I engaged one to take me up
the Tobique River for a few miles to see the bold, magnificent,
scenery of that noted river. The stream and rapids were diffi-
cult to ascend for two miles, but the practised eye and strong
arm of my Indian worked our frail bark canoe through the diffi-
culties by the aid of paddle and pole. I returned at dark and
engaged another Indian to carry me to the inn, and to be there
at six o'clock to carry me in his canoe to Woodstock, a distance
of over fifty miles. These Indians are all of the Melicite tribe
and speak a different language from our Micmacs. They are for
the most part temperate and make good livings by farming,
fishing and hunting. Many of them have horses, oxen and cows
and live most comfortably. Punctual to the appointed hour my
new Indian came. We breakfasted early and got enough bread
and meat for dinner by the way and then started down stream.
Had the wind not been ahead and strong, the voyage would have
been made in five hours. At is was we were eleven hours in
accomplishing it. It was a delightful day. The rapid stream,
the beautiful and at times solitary and magnificent scenery,
coupled with the, to me, novel mode of conveyance, a frail bark
ship that one could not stand up in on such a river, and my
aboriginal " captain and all hands " — made the journey of fifty
miles one of the most pleasant that I have ever taken. It was
easy work for me but hard for the skipper, as he had at times
great difficulty in keeping the ship's head to the wind. In cross-
ing one of the rapids we shipped a small sea which wet me some
and I had to strip off my coat and dry my shirt in the sun and
wind. This was soon accomplished and nothing else occurred to
render the voyage unpleasant. About noon we stopped by a
rapid stream, hauled up our canoe, and dined, washing down the
dry bread and meat with delicious water — both drinking out of
the same tin pint — " all one brother." I was able to read a
good deal in the canoe, stretch myself out in my railway wrapper
at the bottom of the frail bark, and I slept some time. This
change of position from semi-erect to the horizontal is a great
relief and makes this mode of travelling much more pleasant
than coaching. At the hotel I met Mr. Troop and his sister
from Bridgetown. We took tea and had a walk together, and
thus another pleasant hour has been spent by meeting Nova
Scotians abroad. They came up from St. Andrew's by the rail-

222 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

road. A 7 o'clock in the morning I start in a coach for the same
railroad, and will be in St. Andrew's or St. Stephen's to-morrow
night. I shall either catch the steamer at Eastport, bound from
Boston to St. John, or else reach the latter city by coach on
Saturday, and if I can get a boat or schooner going over to
Weymouth or Digby on Saturday I shall not wait for the steamer
to cross to Digby on Monday morning. After visiting Mr. Payson
I shall, I hope, reach home towards the end of next week. I fear
I shall hardly hear from you again, but although I may not have
any letters to answer, it is a great pleasure for me to sit down
and talk to my dearest wife on paper about what I have seen and
done, in a way that I can seldom get time to do when at home.
My dear children I long to see as much as my wife. May God
protect and care for you all during my absence. Kiss them all
for papa. Tell Johnston and Mary Ann that I shall expect to
hear they have been good children during my absence.

" Good night, dearest Fanny, and farewell until we meet again,
as it is not likely that I shall be able to write again so that a
letter would reach you much before I return to my own dear
home. Love to all.

" Yours ever,

" D. McK Parker."

In this letter, writing of his return, he says : " If I can get
a boat or schooner going over to Weymouth or Digby on Saturday
I shall not wait for the steamer to cross to Digby on Monday
morning." I remember his telling me that on one occasion, " to
economize time" (a frequent expression of his), he crossed the
Bay of Fundy from New Brunswick in a little schooner which
he chanced on, and that, in a fog, she went ashore some distance
from the entrance to Digby Gut; but all hands got to land with
nothing worse than a wetting and he made his way as best he
could to Digby. I cannot connect this experience with the excur-
sion of 1863, and it may have occurred at an earlier time.

Mr. Payson, of Weymouth, mentioned in this letter, was the
husband of my father's half-aunt, Augusta Parker.

His attendance upon the gatherings of the Medical Society
of Nova Scotia was assiduous, and his contributions to its dis-
cussions were frequent, though in the busy life he led he found
little time for the preparation of many formal papers or essays.

We shall see, hereafter, how concerned he was for the main-
tenance of Vital Statistics. He first moved in this matter at a
meeting of this Society held on February 2nd, 1864, when an
essay was read showing the necessity for a proper registration
of births, deaths and marriages. The record of the meeting
states : " Some remarks were made upon the importance of

1861 TO 1871 223

registration, when Dr. Parker moved that a committee be
appointed to take what steps they might deem necessary to bring
the subject under the notice of the Legislature and to further
the object in view. Seconded by Dr. Black, and passed."

The speech at the opening of the Legislature in that year, by
Sir Hastings Doyle, announced a Bill on the subject which passed
in due course, Dr. Charles Tupper being then Provincial Secretary.

At Confederation (July 1st, 1867), the Dominion Govern-
ment took over the management of the Nova Scotia Statistical
Office, so established ; but, owing to conflicting opinions of a
constitutional nature, ceased to provide for its maintenance in
1877, and it was then abolished.

In the Legislative Council my father agitated for the re-
establishment of a Provincial Bureau, time and time again,
but the Government was hostile to its restoration, and it was
not until after his death that this Province again received the
benefit of such an institution.

Amid all his varied activities, we find that he did not exclude
the service of his country, in a military sense. At what time he
joined the Provincial Militia, I do not know, but for some years he
was surgeon in a regiment — probably the 2nd Halifax, of which
regiment my mother's father had been Colonel in his earlier
years. The buttons of the scarlet tunic and the shako which he
wore bear simply the words : " Nova Scotia Militia." In the
sixties I have seen him ride to muster or parade on the big horse
" Tom," and right soldierly he looked. From the fact that he
was mounted it may be inferred that he was staff surgeon to a
brigade at that time. When " the Fenian scare " occurred in
1866, and I watched a long train of carts, laden with powder,
shot and shell for the forts and batteries, pass from the citadel
round the corner of the old Argyle Street house, I saw my father,
in uniform, mount and ride away to duty with the militia who
garrisoned the city while the regulars took post along the shore.
For that militia duty, I believe, many have clamorously obtained
medals of some sort in after years, at the taxpayer's cost. But it
was all in " the day's work " with this surgeon, and I do not
think he ever heard of the medals.

On the first day of April, 1866, a partnership with Dr. Andrew
J. Cowie was formed, under the firm name of " Parker and
Cowie," the business being conducted at the Prince Street offices.
The reason of this, so far as the senior partner was concerned,
is recited in the articles of partnership to be that he was " feeling
the need of relaxation, and desirous, in consequence of impaired
health and other circumstances, of decreasing his professional
labor." In accordance with this there was a stipulation: "Dr.
Parker will give as much of his time and attention to the busi-

224 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

ness as is consistent with the circumstances above stated — this
matter, however, being left to his own discretion, but it is under-
stood and hereby agreed that he shall be relieved of midwifery
and night practice except in such cases as he may select and
choose to attend." The following clause of the articles is indicative
of the extent of practice which my father then had, and which
came to the firm afterwards. " A competent person to fill the
position of bookkeeper, cashier and dispenser, shall always be
employed by the firm, to take charge of the books, cash, accounts,
dispensing, and collecting monies, whose salary shall be paid
by the business." As already stated, my father had previously
employed such an assistant, after his removal to Argyle Street.

The custom of taking into the offices and instructing students
still continued. That the partnership was harmonious and lucra-
tive is attested by its continuance until my father relinquished
general practice.

This business arrangement made possible a plan of removing
altogether to Dartmouth to reside and converting the summer
cottage there into a permanent home. In 1867 the building
of the present house was begun, using the cottage as a nucleus;
the stable was removed to its present site and enlarged, the field
below the house was cleared, the grounds laid off as they now
appear, and the property with the frontage on the shore was
acquired. In the spring of 1868 the new house was occupied,
and it became my father's home for the nearly forty years of
life that he was yet to enjoy. The principal features of the
house are its spacious, high and airy apartments, designed by
himself for health's sake. Often did he attribute the prolongation
of his life to that home amid the sheltering beeches, beside the
waters of the Cove, and congratulate himself for his good fortune
in being able to live out of town, in finding a situation so health-
ful for his young family, and where he could practise for him-
self the principles of his gospel of fresh air, sunshine, and a life
that was closer to nature.

Soon after the removal to Dartmouth, Dr* Cowie occupied
the Argyle Street house.

It may be said here, in passing, that the subject of this
Memoir was not of the stamp of practitioner to seek membership in
foreign societies and thereby attach more of the alphabet to his
name than the symbols of his Edinburgh degree and license.
But I am reminded, at this stage, that the attention of the
Gynecological Society of Boston, Mass., of which Dr. Horatio R.
Storer and Dr. Winslow Lewis were leading members, having
been attracted by something written by my father in the depart-
ment to which the Society was devoted, he was elected an honor-
ary member of that body in October, 1870. In this branch of

1861 TO 1871 225

his profession he was specially proficient, owing, possibly, in
some degree to the training and influence under which he came
as a clinical clerk to Sir James Y. Simpson who specialized
in gynecology.

Dr. John Stewart kindly furnishes the following notes from
the minutes of the Medical Society of Nova Scotia for the years
1869, 1870 and 1871.

" 1869, July 20. Meeting in Windsor. Dr. Parker was
appointed on the Committee of Arrangements with Dr. W. J.
Almon and Dr. E. Jennings. One of the principal subjects dis-
cussed was the newly founded medical school in Halifax.

" 1870. Meeting in Halifax. Dr. Parker was present and
took an active part in this meeting.

" 1871. A special meeting was called in August, 1871, and
among other things, the Society expunged from its roll of mem-
bers the name of Dr. D y who had not only refused to

return to Dr. Parker certain money lent to him when studying
medicine, but had published in the Halifax papers offensive
remarks about Dr. Parker. Also, next day, August 30th, it was
resolved to present an address to Dr. Parker at a medical supper,
he being about to leave the city for Edinburgh, for two years."

The year 1871 brought the resolve to abandon general prac-
tice, to pursue further study at Edinburgh, and upon his return,
to practice only as a consultant. Johnston, who had been pre-
paring for his medical course at Edinburgh with work in chemis-
try and botany at Dalhousie College and reading in the office,
was now ready, and it was planned that the entire family should
go over for two years. The Argyle Street property, with the good
will of the practice, was now sold to Dr. Cowie, and after twenty-
six years of successful labor, my father found himself cut adrift
from his profession, that he might be free to commence the study
of it afresh and get more thoroughly to the front of the advance
which medicine and surgery had accomplished by this time.

The family crossed from Halifax to Liverpool in August,
and remained in Birkenhead, in lodgings near my uncle John
A. Black's home, until my father could follow. He was that
year President of the Canadian Medical Association, and had
to preside at its annual meeting, held at Quebec in the Laval
University on September 13th and 14th. He was the second
president in the history of that Society. Dr. Charles Tupper
was the first.

On September 4th, shortly before his departure for Quebec,

his professional confreres (pursuant to the resolution of the

Medical Society of Nova Scotia above noted) testified their

esteem by entertaining him at a supper and presenting an address.

The following account of this testimonial was furnished the

city press by Dr. Gordon:
15

226 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Dr. Parker.

On Monday evening the medical men of the city entertained
the Hon. Dr. Parker at the Waverley Hotel. Thirty-two mem-
bers sat down to an excellent supper at 9.30. Dr. Black occupied
the Chair, and Dr. Almon the Vice-Chair. After the royal toast,
' the Queen,' was responded to, the Chairman introduced the
toast of the evening ' Our Guest.' He said that he had been
associated with Dr. Parker for many years, and their intercourse
had always been pleasant. Dr. Parker had identified himself
with the Charitable Institutions of this city, and in the earlier
days, when the poor were not provided for so well as now, he was
ready to attend to them as freely as to the rich, irrespective of
fee or reward. For over twenty-five years he had been in the
habit, in dangerous cases, of consulting Dr. Parker, and he had
always found him actuated by a nice sense of etiquette and willing
to lend himself to carry the case to a successful termination.

He saw that the Dominion Medical Association had chosen
him for President, and he had no doubt that Dr. Parker would
make for himself a European reputation.

After the toast was heartily responded to, the Chairman called
upon the Secretary to read the following address:

To the Hon. Daniel McNeill Parker, M.D.,
Member of Legislative Council,
Province of Nova Scotia.
Dear Sir: —

We, the members of the Medical Profession of Halifax and
of the Province of Nova Scotia, aware that you are about to
leave our city and Province for Edinburgh, cannot allow you to
go from our midst without unitedly expressing the feelings of
regard which, as a body, and as members of the same profession,
we entertain towards you.

An earnest and diligent student at college, for the twenty-
six years you have resided amongst us, you have not failed to
keep pace with the medical literature of the time, nor deservedly
to secure and enjoy a large share of public confidence and esteem.

In our professional intercourse your conduct has been marked
with a spirit of courtesy and fairness, whilst your extended
culture, matured experience, and sound judgment, have always
entitled your opinions to weight and respect.

For many years an active member in the Provincial and
County Medical Societies, you have spared neither time nor
expense in furthering the public interests of the profession in
this Province.

We feel that the Dominion Medical Association of Canada,
in unanimously electing you as their President, chose a worthy

1861 TO 1871 227

representative, and not only paid a well-merited tribute to an
upright man, but also through you conferred an honor upon
the Medical Society of Nova Scotia.

In leaving Halifax your absence will be deeply felt by a
large number of our citizens, and you carry with you the warm-
est interest of many personal friends.

Trusting you may join your estimable lady and family in
safety, after a speedy and prosperous voyage, and that you may
derive all the pleasure and profit you anticipate from your visit
to the modern Athens ; looking forward with pleasure to your
return.

We subscribe ourselves,

Yours faithfully,

Sgd. R. S. Campbell,, M.D. William J. Almon.

W. B. Slayter, M.D. James R. DeWolf.

W. 1ST. Wickwire. Chas. J. Gossip, M.D.

J. Somers. Aethue Moren, M.D.

A. H. Woodill. A. Hattie.

Edwin Clay. A. P. Held.

W. J. Lewis. Chas. D. Rigby.

Edwd. Farbell. Rort. W. McKeagney.

Robert McFatridge. J. F. Black.

Stephen Dodge. Jas. Pitts, M.B.

Thomas Walsh. James Venables.

Val. M. McMaster. D. A. Fraser.

(78th Highlanders). Andrew J. Cowie.

Dr. Burgess. E. D. Roach.

R. S. Black.

H. A. Gordon.
Halifax, 4th Sept., 1871. Secretary.

" Dr. Parker said :
" ' I can only reply in feeble language to the address presented
to me. For the past few days there has been thrust upon me the
additional duty of executor to a departed friend. What shall I
say to my friends who have sprung a mine upon me ? The address
calls forth feelings I cannot express ; many friends have signed it
who have exhibited their kindly feelings on my behalf. The
address has been written with too flattering a pen. Even my
vanity will hardly permit me to think I am entitled to it.

" ' I go from Halifax to seek relaxation and to seek improve-
ment in my Alma Mater of former days, and hope when I return
I may be of more use to my professional brethren and my patients,
should I have any.

" ' My emotions to-night are like those of a parent who receives

228 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

his first-born. This address is my first-born. I never received one
before.

" ' In parting from you, gentlemen, I will remember with
gratitude this evening. I could not on paper express my feelings.
I can only say I feel grateful in my heart for the kindness you
have exhibited. '

" ' The Army and Navy ' was given by Dr. Almon and replied
to by Drs. McMaster and Lewis.

" Dr. Clay gave ' Our Guests.' Replied to by Dr. Roach and
Dr. McMaster.

" Dr. Parker, after giving ' The Officers of 1ST. S. Medical
Society,' with the name of Dr. Black as President, said : ' Under
Dr. Black, the past meeting was the most profitable I remember.
I enjoyed the papers then read, and hope that at the next meeting
they may be still more profitable. In the Halifax County Society,
I would advise the younger members to go on with the meetings
and reading of papers, for by so doing you will improve yourselves
and do good to the public. I fell into a grave error in the early
part of my life, led into it by a large practice. It is a misfortune
for a young man to have a large practice at first, for it prevents
the scientific pursuit of our profession. As an M.L.C. I may say,
had I my life to live over I would never take such an active
part in politics as I have done. I believe it is the duty of every
professional man to take part in the public matters of the day;
but there is great danger of being too much engrossed by them.'

" He then concluded by proposing the health of Drs. Black and
Almon.

" Several other toasts were proposed and responded to, amongst
which was one to Dr. Gossip, as the only survivor of those who
rendered their aid to the cholera patients of the ' England.'

" Dr. DeWolf spoke feelingly of Rev. Dr. Mclsaac, who won
the esteem of the whole community at that time, and concluded his
remarks by requesting the company to drink in silence ' Absent
Friends, and the Memory of Departed Professional Brethren.'

" After drinking a bumper to the Committee and singing ' God
Save the Queen,' the company broke up shortly before twelve
o'clock, having enjoyed a very pleasant evening.

" H. A. Goedon,

" Secretary."

Of the thirty doctors who gathered at the board that evening
in the old " Waverley," now part of the Halifax Infirmary, there
are, I think, but six survivors.

I am indebted to Dr. Charles Elliott, of Toronto, the General
Secretary of the Canadian Medical Association (one of my father's
old students), for the following notes from the minutes of the

1861 TO 1871 229

Association showing my father's participation in its work up to
the time when he became its President, and also for a copy of his
presidential address delivered at Quebec on September 13th, 1871,
upon the occasion of the fourth annual meeting. Dr. Elliott says :
" Dr. Parker was present at the organization meeting in Quebec
City, the 9th of October, 1867; was appointed on the Registration
and Credential Committee of that meeting, the first Committee
appointed; also on the 10th of October appointed a member on
Special Committee on Preliminary Education; elected to Com-
mittee on General Education, which was also to look into the sys-
tem of granting licenses (the first movement towards Dominion
Registration). The first annual meeting of the Canadian Medical
Association was held at Montreal on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of Sep-
tember, 1868. Dr. Parker does not appear to have been present
at that meeting, but was elected Vice-president for Nova Scotia.
The second annual meeting was held in Toronto, on the 8th and
9th of September, 1869. He was present at that meeting and was
appointed a member of the Nominating Committee, and again
appointed on the Registration Committee. The third annual
meeting was held in Ottawa on September 14th and 15th, 1870.
Dr. Parker was present at that meeting, was a member of the
Nominating Committee, and was also appointed a member of the
Committee on Ethics, of jvhich he was chairman. He was elected
to the Presidency at the Ottawa meeting, and served for 1870-1
in that capacity."

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS; CANADIAN MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION.

Messes. Vice-Presidents, and Gentlemen:

You did me the honor at the close of our last session at Ottawa
to elect me to fill, for the ensuing year, the high position of Presi-
dent of the Canadian Medical Association. My present desire is,
not to remind you of the reasons I then used why a different course
should have been adopted and a different selection made; but
finding myself the occupant of the situation, to discharge, to the
best of my humble ability, the responsible duties connected there-
with.

For three consecutive years our friend Doctor Tupper most
ably and satisfactorily filled " the Chair," and, calling to his aid
the experience of a long Parliamentary training, by firmness and
impartiality has well conducted our Association through all the
dangers and difficulties of early existence.

With the knowledge and promptness of a skilful pilot he has
guided us safely through, and beyond, the reefs and breakers
which here and there met us on the way, and to-day we find our-

230 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

selves anchored, I hope, in smooth water and in good holding
ground. Unaided, this progress could not have been made; but
thanks to the spirit which has pervaded our annual gatherings —
a spirit of courtesy and kindness, blended with an independence
of speech and action, and the fixed determination on the part of
those who constitute the Association to heartily co-operate with
their President in overcoming all obstacles — this infant, born in
the fair city of Quebec in 1867, has returned to it, well developed,
and likely soon to reach the full stature of manhood; eventually,
I trust, to accomplish, in no limited degree, one of the principal
objects for which man should live on earth — good to his fellow-
men.

I shall endeavor not to occupy too much of your time with
my address, for we have important work to do, and but a very
limited time to overtake it in. A brief reference to the past and
a few thoughts and suggestions as to our future must suffice ; and
these latter will be, strictly speaking, less of a professional than
of a general character, such as would seem naturally to suggest
themselves at this stage of our development.

To the invitation of the Quebec Medical Society, in 1867, to
come hither and organize a Medical Association, a prompt and
very general response was given by all the Provinces of the then
new-born Dominion ; and, whatever good has resulted, or may in
the future follow our labors, we must ever remember that the
medical men of Quebec were foremost, and took the initiative in
this matter, which was intended to give, and has given, organized
life and an enlarged sphere of action to the profession in British
North America.

The names of the Colonial statesmen who have labored, and
successfully labored, to unite the different British Provinces in
America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, will be recorded in
the language of commendation by the future historian of our
country, and, when, in years to come, the medical history of our
land is written, when the places that now know us shall know
us no more, the names of several prominent professional men of
this hospitable, fine old city will be handed down to posterity
as the originators of an organization which will ere then, I trust,
have become a great and vigorous Medical Confederation and have
accomplished important results for our profession and the public
of our country.

We have lived three years as an Association, and have now
entered upon our fourth ; and the question very naturally suggests
itself, What have we accomplished in the course of those years ?
I reply that our past, if not noted for any striking or remarkable
events, has not been devoid of effort, of labor and results. It has
been a past largely occupied in preparation for future usefulness.

1861 TO 1871 231

The too brief time allotted for our annual conventions was, in
1867 and 1868, almost entirely consumed in the preliminary
arrangements connected with organization, framing and adopting
a constitution.

During the two succeeding sessions, Medical Ethics, Prelim-
inary and Professional Education, and the consideration of a com-
1 rehensive Medical Act for the whole Dominion of Canada, which
will be submitted to you again to-day, for final action, have largely
occupied our attention and time.

The scientific department of the Association has not been neg-
lected. In addition to the more general matters, above referred
to, we have been gratified, and instructed, by listening to several
very valuable papers on medical and surgical subjects, and I sin-
cerely hope that this, one of the most important objects of our
organization, will be a prominent feature of the work of this
present and succeeding sessions. Last year, at Ottawa, various
Committees were appointed, and some of these had entrusted to
their charge important professional and scientific subjects, on
which I trust they will be prepared to report at the proper time.

The experience of the past has taught us the lesson, that it
requires time and patient effort even to properly organize such an
institution as this. We have also learned that to mature such a
measure as the Medical Bill which was before us last year
requires not only time and careful thought, but, having the
general interests of our organization in view, also the occa-
sional yielding of individual opinion, when that opinion is opposed
to the views of a majority of the members of the Association.
When we remember, then, that the time actually occupied in per-
forming all the work above referred to has been only eight days,
that is to say, two days for each annual session, the wonder is that
so much has been accomplished. So much for the past.

The important work of our immediate future is the discussion
of the Act first referred to. which was submitted to us at Ottawa
by Dr. Howard, chairman of the Committee to whom was referred
the responsible and arduous duty of framing the measure.

Those of you who were then present will recollect that a pro-
longed discussion of its main features took place, and that certain
of its clauses were modified by amendments, which the Association
directed a new committee, under the same chairman, to embody in
the Act, prior to its general distribution among the members of the
profession. This duty has been performed ; and the Secretary has
scattered broadcast over the land the Bill of 1870, with these
Ottawa amendments appended, and to-day, I take it for granted,
every member of the profession in the United Provinces, as well
the absent as the present, is familiar with its principles and details.
I look upon this measure in the main as well adapted to the

232 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

condition and circumstances of the country, valuable alike to the
profession and the public, and immediately desirable.

It is not to be expected that, in dealing with a matter of such
moment, perfect unanimity will prevail. Men's minds are differ-
ently constituted, and in the discussion of a measure of magnitude
and importance like this all cannot see eye to eye. Indeed, such
a condition of things here would, to my mind, be undesirable, as
it would suggest the probability of but little attention or matured
thought having been given to the subjects embraced within the
provisions of the bill. By free discussion, and a public statement
of our individual views, truth and sound principles will be evolved,
and both the professional and the public interests will thereby be
subserved.

I trust, gentlemen, that in finally dealing with this bill, during
the present session, sectional and personal interests will here find
no resting-place, and that, whatever may be our differences of
opinion in relation to some of the clauses, we will all be actuated
by an ardent desire to obtain for British America an advanced and
comprehensive measure adapted to the present and future wants
of the country — a measure that we, and those who are to follow us,
in after years can look upon and speak of with pride and satis-
faction.

The time cannot be afforded, and if it could it would be out
of place, for me to discuss at length, from the Chair, the various
subjects embraced in the contemplated Act, but I trust you will
bear with me while I briefly refer to a few of its leading features.
And first let me say, not for the information of members of the
Association, for you are already familiar with the fact, but, for
the benefit of those who are beyond and without our circle, if any
such are present, that we are taking the initiative and striving
to obtain this, our " Reform Bill," not from selfish motives — not
with the idea of advancing our own personal and pecuniary inter-
ests, but from an ardent desire to elevate the profession and to
expand its sphere of usefulness — to better qualify and education-
ally equip its members for dealing with human health and human
life.

In this connection, I may add, as a noteworthy fact, that all
medical reforms, properly so called, have emanted from the pro-
fession, and have not been forced upon us from without. In this
particular we are always in advance of public sentiment.

Considering the motives and reasons which have prompted us
to take action in the matter now under discussion, we can go to
the different Legislatures of our country, not as humble suppliants,
asking for that which is to be of advantage only to ourselves, but
we can approach them from higher ground and demand this

1861 TO 1871 233

measure of reform, — and I might also acid, of necessity, — as a
right, in the interests of the public and of humanity.

The bill we are about to seek from our Legislatures will, if it
becomes operative, not only give to the country a more highly
qualified Profession, but, by referring to its forty-seventh clause,
you will perceive that it will furnish the Governments — and that
without cost to their revenues — with a responsible body of advisers,
in short, with an advisory council, to whom, with confidence, they
can appeal for guidance on sanitary subjects, and " all matters
pertaining to the public health," and thus provide, at the expense
of the medical profession, a substitute for a Bureau of Public
Health. While the Central Council will occupy this position in
relation to the General Government, it would seem desirable that
Branch Councils — or, if the Association should see fit to call them
by another name, and designate them Executive Committees —
should perform the same responsible functions in the several Pro-
vinces of the Dominion.

It strikes me that the retention of this feature of the Bill, as
a part of its working machinery, will tend to popularize the
measure, and facilitate its passage through the several Local Legis-
latures.

On all matters connected with quarantine, public hygiene, the
construction of general and special hospitals, and subjects of a
cognate character, these advisory bodies would be of essential ser-
vice to the Local as well as to the General Governments.

Always readily accessible, and surrounded, as they would be,
by official responsibility, their public utterances would be well
matured and authoritative.

In finally dealing with this measure, and fitting it for legis-
lative criticism and action, I trust the principles embodied therein,
as regards the composition of the Council and the examining body,
will be adhered to. It is a wise provision to entrust the respon-
sibility of working this Act in equitable proportions to men from
the schools, who are already charged with the important duty of
moulding into shape and giving educational form to those who, in
after years, shall fill our places, — a duty which with propriety and
justice I can say they faithfully and ably perform, — and, to mem-
bers of the general profession, who will bring to the work before
them practical knowledge, energy and business capacity.

Referring to the clause which defines the composition of the
Board of Examiners, I may say that we have given a proportion
to the educational institutions none too large.

Selecting two-thirds from the schools and one-third from the
outside profession, we will be able without difficulty to obtain a
Board, composed of men " of approved skill in the several subjects
on which they are to examine." Give us a uniform standard of

234 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

preliminary and medical education, registration, a sound licensing
system, a General Council such as our bill provides, and an
Examining Board, selected as above indicated, and the corner
stones and main pillars of a great work will have been securely
laid, on which a superstructure may be built, adapted to the present
as well as to the future necessities of a rapidly growing country
and an ever-increasing medical profession.

Provision — and, under all the circumstances, a wise provi-
sion— has been made in our Act for the registration of every
member of the medical profession — without reference to doctrine
or modes of practice — who, at the time of its becoming law, may
be possessed of a license to practise in any of the Provinces
of the Dominion. I say it is a wise provision, for, whatever our
individual feelings and opinions may be, it is expedient, looking
to the passing of the measure by the General Parliament, and its
subsequent adoption by the Legislatures of the several Provinces,
that this feature should not be modified.

I speak with confidence when I say that any attempt at retros-
pective legislation in this matter would do more than jeopardize
our Bill, — it would destroy it.

It is to be borne in mind that very many of those whom we
are wont to designate irregular practitioners are to-day qualified
by law to practice medicine ; but their legal recognition does not
by any means involve the idea of professional recognition, in the
ordinary acceptation of the term.

This subject was discussed at some length at our last meet-
ing, and the question was then settled. I refer to it to-day
because there are here present a large number of members who
were not at Ottawa, and it is, of course, competent for any of these
gentlemen to again open up the subject ; but, having it thus placed
before them, I should hope that they, considering the very import-
ant interests involved in the passage of the Act through the several
Legislatures of the Dominion, would, at the close of such discus-
sion, leave it " in statu quo."

New Schools.

There is a growing tendency in almost all young countries to
multiply medical schools — often to the serious prejudice of the
educational and general status of the profession — and I regret
to say that British America is not an exception to this rule.

I am fully convinced that this is an evil, and that, instead
of diffusing our strength by unduly increasing their number, it
would be in the interests of the profession and the public rather
to concentrate our forces, and to enlarge and expand those now
in active and healthy operation, and thus make them still more
efficient.

1861 TO 1871 235

The twenty-ninth clause of our Bill, and the proposed amend-
ments thereto, are both in accord with the opinion to which I
have just given utterance, as indeed was the general sentiment
of the Association, as expressed at its last meeting at Ottawa.

I will not touch upon the more minute details of the contem-
plated Act, but having thus briefly referred to a few of its funda-
mental principles, and assuming its adoption here during this ses-
sion, I will, before leaving the subject, just say, that it behooves
every member of this Association to exert all his Parliamentary
influence, so that a successful issue may be there obtained. It will
be necessary for us to watch the measure with jealous care, as it is
being dealt with by the several Legislatures of the country, lest
it should be so marred as to render it inoperative.

Time, thought, co-operative effort, and money have all been
expended in maturing and advancing it thus far, and it would
be a great misfortune to the profession, and the country, if it
should miscarry in the Houses of those who should be its friends.

Let us assume that the Bill has become the law of the land,
then the question arises, will the profession be prepared to give
the necessary time, and to make the necessary sacrifices to ensure
its success? It is well that at this early period we should
think of this matter. Obtaining the Act in the desired shape, or
as it shall pass from our hands, will accomplish but little, either
for the profession or the people, unless the members of this
Association, having put their hand to the plough, determine not
to look back, but, on the contrary, by continued and persevering
effort, to conquer success. It is possible that ere we meet again
the Act may have passed the General and some of the Local Legis-
latures, hence the necessity of being early prepared to efficiently
work the entire machinery of the law. I believe its future
success will altogether depend on the men who shall be selected
for the first and few succeeding years of its existence, to organize
the institution, and conduct its business.

Medical men as a body are self-sacrificing — to an extent that
the general public little know and little appreciate. The object
in question will call forth,, and draw largely upon, this character-
istic element of our professional nature ; for men the most experi-
enced, the most successful, the most largely and lucratively engaged
in professional practice, will be those who should put their
shoulders to the wheel, and force the machine successfully ahead.
Sacrifice of time, comfort and money will have to be made in
the interests of the profession we love, and for the public good.

In making the early selections (especially) to fill the offices
contemplated by this Act, our motto should be, " the right men in
the right place." Sectional and personal desires, feelings, and
friendships should all be held in abeyance, and the success of our

236 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

undertaking should be the prominent idea in every man's mind.
Matured men of sound judgment must be at the helm, and com-
pose the Executive ; otherwise, " The College of Physicians and
Surgeons of the Dominion of Canada," from which much will
be expected, will fail to perform its mission; will lamentably
disappoint its friends, and, while bringing discredit on us as a
body, will give " aid and comfort " to our enemies. Patriotism,
applicable alike to the profession and to the country of our choice
and our affections, plainly indicates the course we should pursue
in relation to this important matter.

An additional incentive to harmonious and energetic .action
in order to obtain, and successfully work, an advanced educational
and general measure such as that now under consideration, exists
in the knowledge of the fact that at this moment the eyes of the
profession of Great Britain and the United States are directed
towards Canada, watching with anxiety and interest our every
movement.

In the mother country they have already dealt with the subject,
and, in reference to time, are in advance of us; but in the adjoin-
ing republic they are only now taking the preliminary steps to
accomplish the object.

At the meeting of the American Medical Association, held in
1870, a motion was introduced providing for " a uniform stand-
ard of the medical education throughout the union." Unanimity
was not obtained. The more advanced East, if I am correctly
informed, favored the measure — the more recent Western country
adopting it unwillingly. Earl Grey's political utterance, given
many years since to our Provincial public, that " a young country
must be content to have its work cheaply and somewhat roughly
done," exhibited sectional hostility to the progressive resolution
in question. However, it cannot, in the nature of things, be very
long ere the strong and vigorous common sense of the Great
Republic will display itself by successfully grappling with this
important professional and public question, and, unless I am
greatly mistaken, the action about to be taken by this Association,
if successful, will largely influence our neighbors in the matter.
Success in Canada is to me very suggestive of early success in
the United States.

Future Work and Future Duty of the Canadian Medical

Association.

Without wishing in any way to dictate what should or what
should not constitute our future duties, I trust you will permit
me to offer a few thoughts on this subject.

The routine work of the Association is already defined by our
Constitution and By-laws, provision has also been made for a

1861 TO 1871 237

large amount of practical and scientific work connected with
professional subjects.

To Standing and other Committees we have entrusted all
matters pertaining to medical education, medical literature,
climatology, epidemic diseases, and Canadian medical necrology;
but, if this Association confines its labors and its efforts to the
subjects already indicated, it will fall for short of accomplishing
all that should and will be expected of it. There are matters of
general or national, as well as professional, importance in which
it should be deeply interested, and among these I would name
that of Vital Statistics, intimately connected as this subject is
with the Science of Medicine. Its relations to the State are equally
important ; and, to a young country anxious for and seeking after
population from abroad, its bearing upon the national question
of emigration can readily be appreciated by an audience such
as I have to-day the honor of addressing. We may talk and write
from day to day and year to year about the vast extent of our
Dominion ; we may tell the densely populated countries of Europe
of our fertile soil; that we possess millions of acres which "only
require to be tickled with the plough and the harrow to make
them laugh for thirty or forty consecutive years in harvests " the
most abundant; we may talk and write of our vast natural
resources, of our forests, our fisheries, our coal fields, our gold,
iron, copper and other mineral resources, until our tongue grow
weary, and our pens fail us, but it will do but little in accom-
plishing the desired end, unless we can at the same time prove,
by well digested and reliable statistics, that our country is healthy,
that epidemic diseases but seldom prevail to any extent, and
that our climate is favorable to longevity. When we can, with
facts and figures under our hand, say to the inhabitant of the
British Isles, the Frenchman, the German and the Swede, that
his chances of living in health and comfort for three score years
and ten, or even a century, are as great, or greater, in the
Dominion of Canada than in other competing lands, we will have
touched a chord that will vibrate and produce the desired results.
Such information will influence all classes, but especially the
better class of agriculturists, mechanics and laborers ; in short, the
very people we desire to draw to our country, whose pockets,
on landing, are not found empty.

It is in the power of the Medical Profession of Canada, both
in their associated capacity and as individuals, to assist the Gov-
ernment in perfecting a system of returns relating to the vital
statistics of the Dominion, which if coupled with satisfactory
reports on its climatology and diseases, and widely disseminated by
active and efficient agents among the nations of Europe, whose sur-
plus populations are seeking homes in other and newer countries,

238 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

must have an important bearing on the matter of emigration ; and
in this way we will be performing a valuable work, both for our-
selves and our country.

Inebriate Institutions.

I have already suggested that " hospitalism," or, in other
words, the construction, arrangements, and management of general
and special hospitals — erected at the public expense — would very
properly be a matter on which the Executive of this Association
could give advice, as occasion might arise, to the several Govern-
ments of the country.

I will now, in a few words, call your attention to a subject
of great and increasing importance, somewhat allied to this, in
the hope that you will all become interested in it, and not only
give it your sympathy but your active support.

I refer to the provision of inebriate institutions for the treat-
ment and reformation of habitual drunkards. You need not be
uneasy, gentlemen; I am not going to take advantage of my
position here to-day to inflict on you a temperance lecture, but
I feel it incumbent on me to avail myself of the occasion to direct
your attention to this want, so generally felt throughout the land.

Quebec is the only city of the Dominion in which such an
institution exists. It is, I believe, a recent and private institu-
tion, and I have no doubt has already accomplished much good.

The Province of Quebec — and to her honor be it spoken — is the
only portion of Canada that has legislated on the subject under
consideration. In 1870 its Legislature passed a measure entitled,
" An Act to provide for the interdiction and cure of habitual
drunkards," which, to my mind, almost perfectly meets the varied
circumstances and necessities of the case, providing, as it does,
for the necessary coercive restraint and curative treatment of the
inebriate, and at the same time, relief alike to society and to the
friends who are afflicted with their presence. The Act in question
embodies, in the main, the views I have long entertained on this
subject, and which twenty years ago were given to the public
of Nova Scotia.

In the Central Parliament of our common country, the bishops
of several dioceses have, within the past two or three years,
petitioned and earnestly urged that prompt legislative action
should be taken on the subject. In Nova Scotia, nearly all the
denominations have, in like manner, approached the local Legis-
lature, with the same object in view.

Heretofore, the medical profession as a body have not given
this matter the attention it deserves, and, except in a few isolated
cases, there has been no co-operation, on our part, with those who

1861 TO 1871 239

fill the ministerial office, who, to their credit be it said, have
striven, almost single-handed, to obtain from our Governments
the legislation and pecuniary aid necessary to accomplish the
object.

Shall we, in the future, let our hands hang listlessly by our
sides, while others are striving to accomplish that which will save
from utter ruin and misery vast numbers of our fellow-men?
I shall hope not !

Ample State provision has been made throughout our country
for the restraint and treatment of those who are mentally diseased.
Hospitals for the insane, vast institutions, almost perfect in their
arrangements and systems of management, are to be found in all
the principal provinces of British America. These have proved
blessings to our land, and have opened wide their doors for the
reception of all who have been thus afflicted by Providence. The
public revenues of the country erect the structures, and bountifully
support them. But when Governments and politicians are
appealed to, and urged to take action in the matter of providing
for the restraint of those who are suffering from this State disease
(habitual drunkenness), they not infrequently shirk responsibility,
and quiet their consciences by suggesting to the applicants that it
is not a work for Governments, but one that should be dealt with
by philanthropists and moral reformers.

To this false position I take entire exception, and to-day would
say to those who sit in high places in our Legislatures and Gov-
ernments, who control and disburse the revenues derived from
that which creates this disease (amounting in the Dominion of
Canada to about four millions of dollars annually), you should
no longer neglect or trifle with issues so important.

If the traffic in alcohol is legalized, as we know it to be, and
millions of revenue flow year by year into our treasury there-
from, surely the public sentiment of the country will sustain
its parliamentary representatives in making the necessary, and
even the most advanced, provision for the curative treatment
of the unhappy victims of the traffic in question.

The safety of society, the comfort and happiness of innumer-
able families, the prevention of disease — a matter specially per-
taining to our profession ; the relief of our overburdened hospi-
tals, poor-houses, and insane asylums, all call loudly for speedy
and effective effort to be put forth, in order that this heretofore
neglected question shall be neglected no longer. Gentlemen, the
medical profession is familiar with this social evil as no other
class of men can possibly be. We meet it every hour, in every
city, town, and village of our country. We daily see its effects
on the individual ; we know its baneful and deteriorating results
on their posterity. To us the people look in matters of this kind

240 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

for information and guidance, so that they may be stimulated into
properly directed action. Hence, I feel that it is incumbent on
us, as individuals, and as a Medical Association, to aid those who
are already at work; to bring all the pressure in our power to
bear on our several Governments and Legislatures, in order
that they may take early and decided action in the matter.

Ere passing from this subject, I may add that no legislation
will adequately meet the difficulties of the case, which fails to
make provision for the compulsory restraint and treatment of
the habitual drunkard, in these institutions; which fails to pro-
vide a competent tribunal to decide who are and who are not fit
subjects for admission thereto, and also, to take charge of their
remaining and unsquandered property.

Gentlemen, we have a duty to perform in this matter. Shall
we, bearing in mind the responsibilities which attach to us, as
medical men and citizens, give it a helping hand ?

If such is your mind, let me say, the passing hour is the one
in which action should be taken.

The Sects and the Sexes.

On these subjects it may be expected that I should say a few
words. When I first attended the meetings of this Association
I learned that here, in old Canada, the term " Sects " was applied
to irregular practitioners, who hold and practise exclusive doc-
trines. Dr. Storer, the talented delegate from the American
Medical Association — whose able and eloquent address before
this Association last year will be fresh in the memories of those
present who had the pleasure of hearing it — designated these
men " guerillas," from the fact, I suppose, that he considered
them unreliable and dangerous members of society. Well, gentle-
men, I don't fancy guerillas, and shall in the future, as in the
past, keep them at a respectable distance — leave them alone. Our
Bill deals with them in this spirit. Their legal rights are
not infringed. Those of them who are now recognized by law
as medical practitioners will continue to enjoy their privileges
as heretofore, but, in the future — should our contemplated Act
become law — the public will, to some extent, be protected, inas-
much as these irregular practitioners must, ere they can practise
medicine under any form, be educated men — " guerillas," if you
will.

Now, leaving the " Sects," let me for a moment refer to " the
Sexes," or more properly, the female sex, in their new relations to
the profession of Medicine.

In days gone by, a disciple of Lindley Murray, if called upon
to give the gender of a Doctor of Medicine, would very properly

1861 TO 1871 241

have replied — masculine ; but, in modern times — in this pro-
gressive and fast age — he would have either to coin a term, or
reply, like the Irishman, " it depends on whether it is a he or a
she," but one thing he might with great propriety add, " the
occupation is certainly masculine."

In France, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, the neighboring
Union, and even in conservative Scotland, the Medical Schools
have opened their doors to the female sex, and, in some instances,
they, in competitive examinations, have proved themselves to be
strong-minded women.

The subject is not yet practically before us, but come I pre-
sume it will, and that at no distant day; and, gentlemen, when the
appeal is made to you, to the Medical Profession of Canada, to
receive within your fold the enterprising pioneers, from those
whom we have been wont to term the weaker sex, will your
response be yea or nay?

I cannot say that I admire the taste which would prompt
young females to take the scalpel in hand in the anatomical depart-
ment, and there, as in the lecture room, to work side by side
with medical students of the sterner sex, scrutinizing subjects to
them heretofore hidden, and hearing discussed matters the most
delicate, that in all social intercourse between the sexes would,
in days gone by, have been sacredly avoided and forbidden. But,
gentlemen, belonging as I do to the Old School, my views in
relation to such things may, in these progressive days, be con-
sidered erroneous, antiquated, or fossiiiferous.

This is " a future-looking age," and that which some of us
may look upon as an undesirable innovation, may possibly be a
step in the right direction, — tending, eventually, to draw man
back to the primitive conditions of Eden, when perfect innocence
prevailed ; but, accustomed as we are to the condition of things
subsequent to the Fall, I am constrained to say that the habili-
ments of that fall — the fig-leaf and the fur — still have their
charms for me. But, gentlemen, notwithstanding the natural
feelings which are suggested by these modern innovations on the
usage of centuries, I can hardly advise opposition to the move-
ment, when the occasion for discussing it arises.

These future Doctresses, unlike the Sects — with whom I
have grouped them — will seek admission to our fold by the regular
door, and through legitimate channels; hence the propriety of
courteously entertaining and calmly viewing the position when
their proposals are submitted.

I may not be here to take part in the discussion when this
subject is before the Association, but my views may be given, in
advance, in the words of one of Dickens' celebrated characters,
who was wont to express himself affirmatively on important

242 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

occasions by saying, " Barkis is willin'." My counsel to you then,
gentlemen, when this question demands your attention, ^ when
this matrimonial alliance is actually sought, is to say, in the
language of Barkis, "We are willin'," and to surrender at
discretion.

Professional Politicians.

There is another matter intimately connected with the inter-
ests of our profession, to which, in as few words as possible, I
should like to call your attention. I refer to the growing ten-
dency among medical men of this young country, who are already
general practitioners, that is to say, physicians, surgeons, and
accoucheurs, to become also practitioners in politics. I am the
more inclined to refer to this subject in consequence of an observa-
tion made last year, in discussion, by a member of this Associa-
tion, to the effect that, in one of the Provinces of the Dominion,
one-third of its Parliamentary representatives were members of
the medical profession ; and, he added, if in view of the interests
of our craft it were necessary, that number could readily be
increased to one-half. I am one of those who believe that every
citizen, especially educated and thinking men, should never fail
to exercise the full rights of citizenship ; that they should not hold
themselves aloof and stand idly by while great and important
political events are transpiring — and, in our day, these come thick
and fast upon us; on the contrary, I think it is the duty of the
profession calmly and firmly to assist in moulding and elevating
public opinion, and in rightly directing it on all the greater
questions of the day, relating to our country's advancement.
I believe that the medical man who, for personal and pecuniary
reasons, fails to independently exercise his franchise, is neglecting
an important duty as a citizen, and doing an injustice to his man-
hood and his profession; and this remark is the more applicable
in the case of a young country, where in the nature of things, tone
and direction to public sentiment must be largely given by mem-
bers of the learned professions. But, on the other hand, I feel
that a widespread desire — especially among our younger men
who are not yet in a position of pecuniary independence — to
seek constituencies, and parliamentary places, will, in general,
prove personally injurious, and at the same time, militate against
the interests of the profession. Although I have never represented
a constituency, yet I have had some practical knowledge of political
life, and from one of its public positions have viewed the whole
arena, and on this subject feel that I can speak with some degree
of authority; and the conclusion at which I have arrived is that
we cannot at the same time efficiently serve two masters — the
Medical Profession and Politics. To be faithful to both, of neees-

1861 TO 1871 243

sity involves such a tax on time, and such a wear and tear of
mental energies, that few men can satisfactorily fill the two posi-
tions, without suffering " in mind, body, and estate."

Do not misunderstand me, gentlemen ; I do not for a moment
entertain the idea that medical men should not be legislators, or
that they are not sometimes well qualified for the position, — the
teachings of experience, and of colonial history, would oppose such
a view. There are important public questions coining constantly
before legislative bodies, on which, from their training and prac-
tical knowledge, medical men are better qualified to express
opinions than the majority of those who usually compose these
deliberative assemblies. But this I do say, that to flood our
legislative halls with plrysicians and surgeons, and to make their
complexion and atmosphere largely medical, would be doing no
good to the country, while it would be inflicting a grievous injury
on a scientific profession.

Perhaps I will be excused for adding that this growing ten-
dency towards public or political life has as yet resulted in making
but very few medical statesmen, while I feel assured it has spoiled
a good many doctors.

Speaking from experience, I can say that it is an easy matter
to enter and become entagled in the political net, but it is much
more difficult to withdraw therefrom, and to extricate yourself
from the position, however desirous you may be to do so.

Gentlemen, I trust I may be excused for referring to this
subject, but, having been elected to fill the important post of
father to the Association for the present year, I have exercised a
parent's privilege, by giving you the result of personal observa-
tion, and the advice suggested thereby, on a matter very intim-
ately connected, I think, with the interests of the medical profes-
sion of the Dominion of Canada.

Compulsory Vaccination.

The subject of compulsory vaccination should early occupy
the attention of this Association. It is unnecessary, even had
I the time, addressing, as I am, a professional audience, that I
should dwell at length on this matter, and support the suggestion
by argument, by facts, and by figures, which are already familiar
to you, but more especially to those of your number who have
studied the vital statistics of Great Britain and other European
countries. When I say that this subject should early occupy
the attention of the Association, I mean that it should be our
duty, without unnecessary delay, to urge it on the Government
and Legislature of the country as a matter of national moment,
and one that should be promptly dealt with; more especially as,

244 DANIEL McjSTEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

in these days, the importation of smallpox to this continent by
steamships engaged in transporting emigrants from the larger
cities of Europe is a thing of weekly occurrence.

Leaving politico-medical, or medico-political subjects, let me
for a brief moment refer to one or two matters more purely
medical, intimately connected with the growth and interests of
this Association.

Medical Societies.

It should be the duty of this institution to recommend and
urge upon its members the desirableness of forming Medical
Societies whenever and wherever the material can be found to
effect this object. We cannot over-estimate their value to the pro-
fession and to the communities. They are, when organized on
correct principles, and properly conducted, educational institutions
of great practical value.

They stimulate men to work, to observe, and think, and to
impart to the common storehouse of knowledge important facts,
that would otherwise be lost to the profession, or would be long
delayed in reaching that storehouse. They are capital schools
for eliciting practical knowledge, developing latent talent, and
bringing to the front men of ability, who, without such aids, would
often remain in obscurity, unknown and unhonored.

In sparsely populated districts, where medical men but seldom
congregate in numbers, and the advantages of social and profes-
sional intercourse cannot be had, as in cities, they will supply a
want not otherwise to be obtained. To this institution they will
be valuable co-workers, and the delegates who shall here represent
them will, in general, both in speaking and voting, be giving
expression to the views not of the individual only, but of the
organization whence they come.

As an Association, we can only deal with this matter in a
recommendatory spirit. It is a subject for sectional and indi-
vidual effort, but I trust its importance will not be lost sight of,
and that, ere we meet again, the medical societies, which are now
comparatively few in number, may be increased in the Dominion
of Canada ten-fold ; and, through our increasingly valuable medical
periodicals, be giving, systematically, to the whole profession, the
result of their labors.

Finance and Publication of Professional and Scientific

Papers.

I wish to call attention to the report of the Publishing Com-
mittee, presented to the Association last year, on the subject of
our finances. The Chairman of the Committee, Dr. F. W.
Campbell, informed us that the valuable papers prepared with

1861 TO 1871 245

much thought, and at no small expenditure of time, which had
been read on previous sessions before the Association, remained
unpublished for want of funds. Let me say, gentlemen, that I
believe the usefulness, and the continued life, of our organization,
is largely dependent on the cultivation of this its scientific and
professional feature; and we cannot expect members to give their
time and labor to this department if their papers, after being
read, are to be thrown into waste paper baskets, or fyled away
in the Secretary's office, unpublished. Dr. Campbell's suggestion
in this connection was that membership should be looked upon
as permanent, and that, whether present at our annual meetings
or absent, the dues or subscriptions should be collected from all.

Dr. CannifFs notice of motion to alter the By-laws in relation
to this matter, in accordance with this suggestion, comes regularly
before us now. and will, I trust, be promptly passed, so that the
financial difficulty to which I refer may no longer impede our
scientific progress. I should have liked, had time permitted, to
refer to the desirableness of sending some of our representative
men, as delegates, to foreign Associations; and especially to that
of the neighboring Union, which, on more than one occasion, has
paid us the compliment of sending to our annual gatherings some
of its ablest members.

We should reciprocate, and be well represented at their next
meeting. I should also have liked to dwell for a few moments
on the propriety of the whole profession of British America pat-
riotically supporting, by their subscriptions and literary contri-
butions, the medical press of the country, but time fails me.

Heretofore, our sessions have continued only two days. The
time is altogether too limited to satisfactorily overtake the busi-
ness, and I trust that on this occasion, and in the future, three
entire days, at least, may be appropriated for the work of each
meeting.

In closing these already too lengthy observations, I feel it my
duty to say to the Association, and more especially to its Nominat-
ing Committee, who will to-morrow probably submit for approval
the names of our officers for the ensuing year, that I believe it
to be for the true interests of the institution, that the President
and Vice-President should in the future not be re-appointed,
but changed annually, and I would now advise the Association
to seek new men from the leading minds in the profession, from
those who occupy prominent positions as practitioners or teachers,
who, in consequence of what they have achieved by their talents
and energy in the Science of Medicine, are by the common con-
sent of the profession, and the public, acknowledged as men worthy
to fill the highest professional offices in the gift of the profession
itself or of the public.

246 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

While other collateral subjects come legitimately within our
sphere of action, and should have, as I have already stated, our
earnest attention, let me say, gentlemen, that our primary object
should be to make this structure, from top to bottom, from centre
to circumference, in all its parts, a professional institution; and
with this end in view, and ever in our minds, we should bend
ourselves manfully to the work, striving with unity of purpose
and a fixed determination to make the Medical Association of
the Dominion of Canada one of the prominent and most useful
institutions of the land; and, in accomplishing this, we will be
largely assisted by annually placing at the head of the Associa-
tion our ablest men, who are not engaged in other pursuits than
medicine. In this connection, too, I would say to the junior men
who have but for a brief period been engaged in the struggle,
and are conquering success, and to those who are just commenc-
ing their professional career, on you will largely rest the labor
and the responsibility of guiding its affairs, and making it in
the future, I trust, a blessing to our profession and our country.
We, who for long years have been upon the stage, and have taken
an active part in organizing and bringing it thus far on its journey,
must, in the nature of things, soon step aside, and give place, we
earnestly hope, to abler and better men. We say to you to-day,
young men, equip and prepare yourselves for these future responsi-
bilities so that in after years the historian of your profession and
our country may truthfully say of you, " They well performed
their work."

Before he left Halifax for Quebec, my father had yielded
to the solicitations of his old friend Mr. Stephen Selden, editor
and proprietor of The Christian Messenger, to furnish that
paper with some correspondence from Edinburgh. The journey
to Quebec (as it was usually done before the Intercolonial Rail-
way was built), the Atlantic voyage, and some account of things
seen in Liverpool, are related in the first of a series of seven
letters published in the Messenger, as follows. The letter omits
mention of four of his fellow-passengers on the " Moravian," —
Taylor, Bagnall, Sadler and Winship, composing the Tyne, or
Taylor-Winship crew, who were returning home after a series
of victories in America. Sadler was the champion single-sculler
of that day, who defeated Nova Scotia's greatest oarsman, George
Brown, at Halifax. Being physically " used up," they consulted
my father on the voyage, when he found them in much the same
condition from overwork as was poor Renforth, the English oars-
man, when he attempted his last race, on the Kennebacasis near
St. John, and fell dead in his boat. Advised by my father, the
crew cancelled pending English races and went out of commission
for a time.

1861 TO 1871 247

13 Salisbury Place, Xewington,

Edinburgh, October 24th, 1871.
Dear Editor. —

In compliance with your request I propose to inflict on you
and your readers some " jottings by the way," which, if not
interesting, will at all events demonstrate to you the fact that
although now surrounded in this old world by much that is attrac-
tive and absorbing, both to the eye and the mind, I have neither
forgotten my promise nor those I have left behind me at home.

St. John to Portland — More Boats Required.

As you are aware, I came to Britain by rather a circuitous
route. My journey from Halifax to Quebec by a way very
familiar to the travelling public of Xova Scotia need not be dwelt
on at any length, as nothing of any moment occurred to dis-
tinguish it from oft-repeated excursions made in former years
over the same ground. On board the International steamer which
thrice a week bridges the intervening space between St. John
and Portland there was a heterogeneous crowd of some four or
five hundred travellers, not knowing what to do with themselves
by day, and a large number of them finding it very difficult to
know where to stow their bodies at night — the sleeping accommoda-
tion being insufficient for the number on board. In this connection
let me advise those of your citizens who may be travelling between
St. John and Portland, by these International steamers, during
the crowded season, to procure a stateroom ticket from the Hali-
fax agent, ere they leave, else a plank, with or without a pillow,
will very likely be their lot during the night they are compelled
to be at sea. Having taken this precaution, I was enabled to accom-
modate two unberthed gentlemen, in the upper story of my state-
room, and as I looked out upon the motley mass of recumbent
figures, stowed away on the saloon floors for the night — almost as
compactly as spoons in a sideboard — I could not but feel, that for
that night, at all events, " the lines had fallen unto us in pleasant
places."

Xot unfrequently, by day, as I elbowed my way through the
over-crowded saloons, and more frequently by night, the thought,
would suggest itself, " What would become of the hundreds of
passengers on board should fire, collision, or other disaster befall
the ship in which we were journeying, rendering it imperative on
all hastily to desert her ? "

To those who have thought of this matter, and examined the
very inadequate means of transport — in the shape of boats — with
which these vessels are provided, to meet a sudden emergency
of the kind referred to, a feeling of gratitude to God is at once
suggested, that these, otherwise well equipped and admirably

248 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

managed steamships, have, year after year, been preserved by
Him, and that the thousands upon thousands of men, women
and children who have taken passage by them have been safely
landed at their places of destination.

With all the care and all the skill that human ingenuity and
thought can devise, accidents of the most fearful nature are con-
stantly occurring on the sea, and along our coasts, and thousands
of men now actively engaged in the pursuits of life have been
indebted for preservation, to the adequate and well ordered boat
arrangements of the ships, which, in conveying them from port
to port, were wrecked or lost at sea. I had thought that no passenger
ship was permitted to leave a British port without sufficient boat
accommodation being provided for every seaman and passenger
on board — in case of accident — but I have been in error. At all
events, the rule, as I understand it, of the English Board of Trade,
does not appear to be applicable to the British North American
Provinces — but I hope the day is not far distant when such a
regulation will be there made imperative, and applicable alike
to ships sailing under foreign and British flags.

The Nova Scotia Lion.

It may not be amiss to mention that if the list of voyagers on
this occasion contained no names known to fame, there was, at
all events, one distinguished saloon passenger on board, and he
a Nova Scotian — although not a member of the human family.
I refer to a young lion, born a few days or weeks before in Halifax
— the whelp of a circus lioness. He was cared for and nursed in the
lap of a circus lady, and appeared comfortable and " happy under
the circumstances."

I neither saw nor heard anything of the natural mother, and
came to the conclusion that this good lady was either returning
the compliment for Romulus and Remus of old, or, that adopting
the suggestion of Dickens in " Dombey and Son," she was " doing
something temporary with a teapot."

The railway, after some unavoidable delay, deposited us at
Point Levis early on Sunday morning, and as we steamed across
the St. Lawrence to

Quebec,

a familiar object from the harbor of Halifax, the " Royal Alfred "
bearing the flag of Admiral Fanshaw, met our view.

Accompanied by a fellow traveller, the Rev. D. O. Parker, of
Liverpool, N.S., the only Baptist Chapel in Quebec was sought
and found, and we spent a pleasant, and I trust a profitable day
with the little band who worship there. In the evening Mr.
Parker occupied the pulpit.

1861 TO 1871 249

Quebec was crowded to excess, and every available bed occupied
by visitors. The hotel accommodation at best is but limited,
but on this occasion, in addition to a large number of tourists,
the great Provincial Exhibition and Medical Association were
being held in the city, and attracted strangers from a distance,
who found no difficulty in obtaining food in abundance, but
where to get comfortable bed-rooms was another matter. Close
stowage, with some discomfort, had to be endured for a time by
many who were unaccustomed to it.

Across the Atlantic.

At 9.30 o'clock on the morning of the 16th September the
passengers for England by the screw steamship " Moravian," of
whom I was one, were ferried by a steam tug alongside, and with
their trunks and bandboxes were hustled on board. At 10 o'clock
the gun fired and we were off, with our prow directed seaward.
The scenery for a long distance below Quebec, on both sides of
the St. Lawrence, is beautiful. Cultivated and picturesque islands
are numerous, and add variety to it. For very many miles below
the city the shores of the river are thickly populated. The
churches are large, and have their roofs and steeples covered with
tin, which reflecting on a fine day the sun's rays gives them a
most brilliant appearance. In Halifax, as indeed in all places
situated in close proximity to the sea, tin is speedily acted upon
chemically; and consequently cannot be used for roofing pur-
poses, as on the Upper St. Lawrence and throughout Canada ;
where there is an immense consumption of the English manu-
factured article, which takes the place of slate and shingles.
Far down the St. Lawrence lies the " Island of Bic," where
pilots congregate in summer. Here they leave outward bound
ships, and take charge of those on their way to Quebec and
Montreal, amid fog and rain. At midnight we reached it and
discharged our pilot and the quarantine medical officer, who
took on shore our telegrams and letters, and mailed them at the
island post office. The official just named awaits the arrival
of the next inward bound Allan mail steamship, and accompanies
her up the river for the purpose of carefully inspecting the
immigrants and other passengers. If contagious disease is among
them, he detains the vessel and all on board her at the large and
well equipped Quarantine Island, thirty miles below Quebec.
Such is the provision made by the Dominion Government for the
protection of the inhabitants of the old Canadian Provinces against
the importation of contagious diseases from other countries by
way of the sea ; and, before my return, I hope to learn that a
well ordered and sufficiently capacious Quarantine establishment

250 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

has been completed on Lawlor's Island, in your harbor, and that
the Health Officer of the port will be sustained when the necessity
for it arises in making the quarantine of the port thoroughly
protective.

The mail steamers from Quebec take the northern route —
passing through the somewhat narrow Strait of Belle Isle, which
divides the eastern coast of Labrador from the northwestern
part of Newfoundland, making the voyage to Liverpool only
about 180 miles longer than that from Halifax.

In and beyond this Strait almost throughout the year ice is
met, and the temperature of the water being below that of the
atmosphere, a kind of fog or mist often hangs about the locality,
sometimes so dense as to obscure all objects, and making the
navigation dangerous — especially during the darkness of night.
We saw several icebergs in this neighborhood, grand and beauti
ful objects when observed from a distance, with the sun's rays
playing upon their irregular crystalline surfaces, but greatly to be
dreaded in a position like that of Belle Isle. Our courteous,
experienced and ever-vigilant captain (Graham) was hardly off
" the bridge " from the time we left Quebec until we were beyond
the iceberg region.

If we (the passengers) went on deck at any hour of the night
he could be seen in the path of duty — here a very narrow one,
and only the breadth of the ship — pacing the familiar planks
of the bridge, looking out for the floe-ice and icebergs — almost
the only enemy to be here encountered, if the correct course can
be kept; as other ships than those conveying the Canadian mails,
are seldom met with on this part of the northern route — hence
one of the dangers of the more frequented southern track — collision
with other ships — is avoided.

Through a dense fog we were pursuing our course on the
Tuesday night after our departure from Quebec at a greatly
reduced speed, probably not more than four knots an hour, when
suddenly the ship stopped. Some of the anxious passengers who
were spending a sleepless night were speedily on deck, and there
saw a huge iceberg not more than forty feet from the port side of
the ship, while on the opposite bow was another large mass of ice.
Under God, the great care and persevering vigilance of our captain,
officers and outlook men saved us from a terrible calamity. " What
a lucky escape!" was the general expression as the matter was
discussed among the passengers; but there were some on board
who could, with thankful hearts, say there was no luck in the
matter, but that a kind and overruling Providence warded off the
blow which would have speedily sent a magnificent ship to the
bottom, and probably many lives into an unexpected eternity.

18G1 TO 1871 251

About the same locality, a very few years since, a fine steam-
ship, the " Canadian," owned by the same company, and com-
manded by our captain, in just such a fog as then surrounded the
" Moravian," about the dawn of day struck a mass of floating ice,
and in twenty minutes was away at the bottom of the sea, while
all of her three hundred passengers, save thirty, several of whom
never reached the deck but were drowned below ere the ship went
down, were saved in the boats by the admirable discipline and
coolness of the officers and ship's company. A practical illustra-
tion of the benefits arising from having all sea-going passenger
ships provided with the necessary boat accommodation to take off
every human being on board, in case of a serious accident. Out
of the ice region, with the open and broad Atlantic before us, and
with comparatively little danger from other ships too closely
crossing our path, our captain was to be found daily occupying
his seat at table and adding by his cheery, gentlemanly manner to
the pleasure and interest of the voyage.

With the exception of an adverse wind, which continued during
the entire passage, and some rather troublesome cases of the disease
which Mark Twain facetiously describes by placing the hand on
the stomach and saying " Oh, my ! " all went well both with
ship and passengers until the night of Friday, the 2 2nd Sep-
tember, when I met for the first time in my life with death upon
the ocean.

The case was peculiar and distressing. A young Scotchman,
thirty-two years of age, engaged in mercantile pursuits in the city
of Montreal, genial and intelligent, strong, active, and the very
picture of robust health, left my side at the tea table about eight
o'clock to accompany one of the lady passengers on deck. For a
time they watched the phosphorescent appearance of the disturbed
waters in the wake of the ship, and sang together some familiar
songs, when suddenly he faltered in speech, and sank powerless
to the deck. He was at once carried to his stateroom, and I was
summoned by the surgeon of the ship to see him. Apoplexy
had attacked him, and the hand of death was upon him. For
a few minutes consciousness continued, and he made most painful
efforts to say something to us — probably to send some parting
message to those who were dear to him, but it was useless. Soon
deep stupor supervened, and at five o'clock next morning, having
been most faithfully watched and cared for by Dr. Wolff, the kind-
hearted surgeon of the ship, and two or three Scotch and Canadian
friends through the weary hours of the night, his spirit fled.
Strange to say, at the very time he was seized, a large number of the
passengers assembled in the smoking and card-room on deck were
engaged in discussing this question — " Who is the finest-looking

252 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

man on board the ship ?" and just as I opened the door to ask one of
his intimate friends, who was ignorant of what had occurred, some-
thing concerning his former health and history, the unanimous
decision of the party had been given in favor of Mr. Wilson, the
man whose countenance was now distorted and tongue speechless,
and whose admirably developed frame was paralyzed and helpless,
and even then grappling with death. The shock produced by
such an event on land would have been marked and distressing,
but here, out upon the ocean, it can be more easily imagined than
described. The effect was electrical and depressed every member
and all classes of our little community. The card-table was at
once deserted, and seriousness was upon every man's brow, and
when the cabin passengers assembled the next morning at the
breakfast table, and the seat of one of the most intelligent and
cheerful men on board the ship was vacant, tears were seen cours-
ing down the cheeks of some of the ladies, as they thought of what
was in store for the bereaved mother and the betrothed of the
deceased. And there was moisture in the eye of more than one
strong man as they thus practically realized the truth of the senti-
ment, " In the midst of life we are in death," and that, " In an
hour when ye think not the Son of man cometh."

Sailors have almost invariably a disinclination to be shut up
in a ship with the dead, and their desire is to commit as soon after
death as possible the remains to the deep, but in this instance the
body was retained, for interment in the village near Glasgow where
his parents and more intimate friends dwelt.

A rough coffin was prepared, and in the presence of the officers,
many of the passengers and crew, all of whom were deeply im-
pressed with the scene, the poor fellow's remains were laid in one
of the covered lifeboats, suspended from the davits on the ship's
quarter, and there kept until the Irish coast was reached, when
they were landed at Moville for transportation to Glasgow from
Londonderry.

The Episcopal clergyman who conducted the service and
preached, the first Sunday morning after our departure from
Quebec, was not able, in consequence of sea-sickness, to do so on
the following Sunday morning, consequently the captain read the
Church of England service — and performed the duty very well.
In the evening, the sea being somewhat quieted, the church bell
sounded fore and aft the ship for ten or fifteen minutes, reminding
us of the Sabbath on land and our own homes, and the clergyman
took his place and preached a sermon appropriate to the occasion, in
which feeling allusion was made to the sad event which occupied
all our minds, the death of our deceased travelling companion.

1861 TO 1871 253

Ireland in Sight.

On Tuesday morning, the 26th ult., quite early, Tory Island
light, on the north-eastern coast of Ireland, was sighted, and run-
ning close in shore along the coast and highlands of Donegal we
reached Moville, on Lough Foyle, at midday, transferred a portion
of our mails and several passengers to a steam tug, which conveyed
them twelve or fifteen miles up the Lough to Londonderry — and
then headed our ship for the Irish Channel.

Before leaving this beautiful bay several telegrams were
despatched, announcing to our families and others interested in
the ship our safe arrival in British waters. One was forwarded
to the friends of the deceased passenger, telling them that he was
no more, and that they must be prepared to inter his remains,
unseen, on their arrival in Glasgow, the following morning. Once
before, in 1857, I passed the Giant's Causeway in a Cunard ship,
but at too great a distance to satisfactorily observe it. On this
occasion, the day being fine and clear, we " hugged the shore,"
as sailors express it, and could with great distinctness recognize
the columnar appearance of this peculiar geological formation.
The entrance to its dark caves was apparent, with the boats of
excursionists passing in and out of some of them, while, seated in
calm majesty upon his throne of basaltic rock, the natural figure of
the great Giant — the centre of attraction to all who visit this
locality — was plainly visible. At night we met in the Channel,
" right in our teeth," that which during the whole voyage we had
been dreading, the equinoctial gale; but with a well-lighted coast,
and a staunch and powerful steamer beneath our feet, the Mersey
was reached without difficulty or danger at 9.30 o'clock, and on the
landing-stage, as we were warped towards it, I recognized two
members of my family, who announced to me the gratifying intel-
ligence that all was well with them. Not being a smoker, and
having neither cigars nor tobacco stowed away, my luggage was
speedily passed by the customs officials, a hurried farewell was
said to my agreeable fellow-voyagers and the officers of one of the
finest and best equipped ships (in every particular) which crosses
the ocean, and I found myself, after an absence of fourteen years,
on British soil again, in the great commercial city of

Liverpool.

Amid noise, bustle and apparent confusion, along streets
densely populated with a moving, hurrying mass of human beings,
I wended my way to the other side of the Mersey, to my temporary
home in Birkenhead. The growth of Liverpool and Birkenhead
during these fourteen years has been amazing, not only in the
extent of surface covered by manufactories, houses, warehouses,

254 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

public and humane institutions, but in the extension of their
massive and magnificent docks and floating landing-stages for the
accommodation of their ever-increasing commerce. A rise and
fall of tide in the Mersey of twenty feetj or more, enables the
Dock Commissioners of these two great cities — under whose special
charge these great institutions are constructed and worked — to
utilize its margin and shores in the building of these vast wet, dry
and graving docks, into which quiet and deep basins surrounded
by vast walls of masonry all the ships of these ports go to discharge
and take in cargo, as also for repairs and graving purposes. At
and near high water the broad, strong gates (some worked by
hydraulic power, others by complicated machinery so perfect that
a single man can with the strength of his two arms swing them to
and fro at pleasure, or as occasion may demand) open for the
reception of fresh arrivals and to give exit to those whose capa-
cious holds have been filled with freight from the more capacious
warehouses which on all sides surround these docks.

Some hundreds of acres along the shores of the river have
been thus converted into receptacles for ships of every size, from
the leviathan steamer to the trim and beautifully modelled pilot
boat, the appearance of which on the distant waters so delights
the inward bound seaman and ocean traveller. The great number
of these still-watered basins, large and small, the perfect systems
of management, the beehive-like activity and order which pervade
them, have all been to me a wonder and a study. The tide rises,
the huge gateways of what is termed a dry or graving dock are
opened ; a ship enters ; the tide recedes ; the gates are again opened,
and the water flows out from the basin, leaving the vessel, high
and dry, resting on an even keel. The gates are a second time
closed, so firmly and accurately that the pressure of water, even of
the highest tide, does not affect them, and the work of repair or
of graving goes on as if the ship were on the stocks or the dry
land.

When all is completed, the waters of this great river, being-
made thus subservient to science and the will of man, are per-
mitted again to enter and float the ship away from this workshop
— the dry dock — to the wet dock, from whence she is speedily sent,
laden with Britain's productions to other scenes and other lands.

The distance between the landing-stages of Liverpool and
Birkenhead is about three-quarters of a mile. The ferry accom-
modation consists of three steamboats, each measuring something
less than one hundred tons. One of the more recently constructed
is steered by hydraulic power. Their engines are powerful, neces-
sarily so, as the current in the river runs at the rate of four to six
miles an hour. From each landing-stage one of these boats leaves
every ten minutes. No horses or carriages are carried, but as a

1861 TO 1871 255

general thing they are literally crowded with passengers, all pay-
ing one penny a trip who are not the possessors of commutation
tickets. The captain of one of these boats informed me that it was
no uncommon thing for the three to convey from fifty to seventy-five
thousand passengers on a single day, while the number annually
ferried across the Mersey by this single route amounts to several
millions. Thus you will see that on these crowded or gala days
more than double the population of Halifax and Dartmouth com-
bined is conveyed from shore to shore by these three small steamers
in the short space of twenty-four hours — for they run all night,
charging, however, sixpence sterling for each passenger after
twelve o'clock. I state these facts, on the above authority, for the
purpose of conveying to you some idea of the growth and import-
ance of Birkenhead and the small towns and villages in its imme-
diate neighborhood, where a very large number of the commercial
men of Liverpool reside. In short, these are to Liverpool what
Brooklyn is to New York.

The ferry boats in question are not expensively fitted up. Two
of them have ladies' cabins in which the seats are cushioned, but
the third is so arranged that ladies and laborers have to occupy
the same apartment, downstairs below the water line, as in the
Dartmouth boats in days of yore. In everything but speed the
ancient " Micmac," which has so long and so safely ferried us
across Halifax harbor, will favorably compare with her, and I
may add that her accommodation, although not quite so extensive,
is more than equal, as regards comfort, to that furnished by the
antiquated piece of naval architecture to which I refer. The
captains, engineers and deck hands perform their work exposed
to the weather, with nothing to protect them from rain, snow and
heat ; hence I concluded that whatever other sins the managers of
the Dartmouth steamboat company may have to answer for, as
humanitarians they are in advance of the Corporation of Birken-
head, who own and work the ferry in question.

In Halifax and Dartmouth a demand has been made and often
repeated for larger boats and more elegant accommodation on the
ferry which connects these two towns. This demand will doubt-
less ere long be responded to, but, looking at the matter in its rela-
tion to the population and the traffic to be accommodated, and
from a Birkenhead and Liverpool standpoint, urgent as I have
been on the matter for public as well as from personal reasons, I
feel that I can hardly urge my fellow-proprietors to construct a
floating palace for the work in question, before that " Longwharf "
— which is to connect and make Halifax and Liverpool almost one
city — is built, or to furnish palatial accommodation for one or
two hundred thousand people before they are born and can enjoy it.

Since my last visit to the Old World the new Exchange of

256 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Liverpool has been built, great both as regards its capacity and its
architectural beauty. Here from eleven to twelve o'clock every
day the mercantile community congregates, and here take place
those great commercial and trade transactions between the busi-
ness men of the city, amounting daily to hundreds of thousands of
pounds (speaking within bounds) and often to millions. Here
you see the cotton men — for this is the great cotton mart of the
world, importing annually to its warehouses between two and
three millions of bales — moving earnestly and quickly about, eyes
and tongue alike talking cotton — with samples of the raw material
in their hands and adhering to their coats, so that there is no mis-
taking them. Wholesale business, in all its departments, is here
transacted, not for Liverpool alone, but for a large portion of
England.

Just opposite is the Stockbrokers' Exchange, a fine building
externally, and splendidly fitted up and arranged, so I am
informed. It is always closed to the uninitiated, and none but
members have the entree.

The civic and public buildings and offices of every description
are constructed on a grand scale, externally and internally,
Nothing, however, gratified me more than my visit to Brown's
Library and Museum.

In years gone by, a Liverpool merchant bearing that name
bequeathed a large sum of money to erect and furnish a public
library, free to all classes. The building is very large, and as an
architectural structure is attractive, but to me its chief interest
centres in that which was the donor's intention, viz., furnishing
good healthy mental food to those who were without it and could
not afford to obtain it — the masses. There during my visit I saw
mingled with those who were very well dressed, very poor men,
the laborer, men out at the elbows, some with " shocking bad hats,"
others with worn-out coats and shoes, quietly seated in a large and
comfortable reading-room, intently engaged in perusing books and
periodicals and evidently enjoying the occupation and the place.
Hither the clerk and the skilled artizan, who have but an hour to
reach their lodgings and partake of their midday meal, hasten, to
select some work in which they are interested — out of the 52,000
volumes which are there collected and properly arranged — and
spend a few minutes in devouring its contents. And when their
time is up the book is handed back to the boy librarian at the
counter, as they hie away to their stores or their workshops.

The library is well selected; the scholar, the man of literary
tastes, the naturalist, the artist and the artizan can all here drink
— in accordance with their varied tastes — at the fountain of
knowledge, and that, too, without cost.

1861 TO 1871 257

While I was there observing and watching the practical work-
ings of the Institution, I suppose there were not less than 200 or
250 men and lads occupied in the large reading-room and in the
smaller apartments where were stored the works in the higher
departments of learning. Here, some were studying, while others
were engaged in drawing and painting from works taken from the
shelves of this great and liberal institution, works that they could
not otherwise have obtained. In another portion of this same
building is a large and well-filled museum, containing specimens
and articles of the greatest interest, from all parts of the world,
illustrating mechanical and natural science. The fine arts and
antiquarian science are also well represented. In short, it is a
museum such as I long to see in the capital of my native Province.
I was asked to step into the Aquarium that I might be intro-
duced to a countryman — the friend who gave me the information
being reticent as to the name of the party to whom he wished to
introduce me. Suddenly I came in front of a large glass case
containing a huge bull-frog, which was thus labeled, " Bull-Frogs
from Xova Scotia — presented by Andrew Downs." I presume the
plural number was applicable when the presentation was made,
but the singular should now be used, as but one remains. This
leviathan did not apparently recognize me as a ISTova Scotian, for
he remained motionless as a statue during the interview, did not
even croak, and as I intently watched him for some minutes he
only winked once as if to let me know I was under observation.
I was proud of my countryman, for he was the finest specimen of
his species I had ever seen and was a centre of attraction to all
who visited his department of the museum.

I was desirous of hearing the Rev. Stowel Brown preach again
— having heard him once in 1857 — but was disappointed, in con-
sequence of his absence from Liverpool on the only Sunday I was
there. So I very contentedly and profitably listened to a less
distinguished Baptist minister in Birkenhead.

On the same day I attended a very interesting service at the
Blue Coat School in Liverpool, an Episcopal institution, endowed
only to a very limited extent, and maintained mainly by the dona-
tions and annual contributions of the charitable and the wealthy.
Here are collected, fed, clothed and educated from 200 to 250
boys and 100 girls from five to fourteen years of age, all either
orphans or fatherless, neatly dressed in blue clothes, and, I may
add, looking, with their robust forms and rosy cheeks, both healthy
and happy. When they have fully reached the period of fourteen
years they leave the school, the boys being placed at trades and in
stores, and the girls at service. Several prominently wealthy and
distinguished men were here cared for and partially educated in
early life. And I am glad to be able to add that in after life they
17

258 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

did not forget the fact, as the annals of the institution and their
generous contributions amply testify. The hoys of the Blue Coat
School in London are never permitted to wear a hat or cap, and
meet them where you will, while they are inmates of that institu-
tion, in hot, cold or wet weather, their heads are bare — because the
founder of the school so willed it. Eels, they say, get used to
skinning, and so I presume these boys get used to the barbarous
regulation which compels them to run through the streets of
London, in foul weather and fair, under " bare polls." Thi3
generous old monomaniac with the " bee in his bonnet," who had
a whim to gratify, might have been hydropathically relieved of his
mental disease or eccentricity if he had only been subjected for a
brief period to this bonnetless practice. Cured by his own medi-
cine! Happily no such regulation exists in connection with the
Blue Coat School of Liverpool.

On the Sunday in question the doors of the institution were
opened at a quarter to four o'clock p.m., and the crowd of visitors
was first shown through the antiquated building, in the centre of
the city, where these children dwelt. Everything was in admirable
order, and the servant who accompanied myself and family stated
as we passed through the kitchen, that here the general order of
things is somewhat reversed, for the boys do the cooking, while the
girls attend to other domestic matters about the establishment.

The object the managers have in view, in exhibiting the build-
ing on Sundays to visitors, is to interest them in this work of
charity and love, so that they may contribute to its funds. An
opportunity is given to each visitor to do so as they enter the door
of the chapel, where several gentlemen stand with plates in their
hands to gather in the silver and pence. The small chapel was
uncomfortably packed with men, women and children. When all
were provided with sitting or standing room the organist played
a solemn march, and presently we heard a sound as of a regiment
of soldiers advancing with slow and measured step, and then they
came, two and two into the chapel and through the aisle, and with
military precision filed into their respective places, their feet
keeping time to the music, until all were in position, the boys in
advance, the girls bringing up the rear of the procession.

The singing of these children was magnificent, but the unique
part of the proceedings, and that which struck me most was that,
instead of a clergyman, as I had fully expected, taking the service,
a little boy of twelve or fourteen years stood up in the reading desk,
gave out the hymn9 and anthems, read the collect, the chapters
from the Old and New Testament for the day, and the few very
appropriate prayers of this special service, with as much solemnity
and effect as if he had been an octogenarian. A part of the service
consisted of about thirty of the children stepping to the front with

1861 TO 1871 259

the same military precision, and very distinctly replying without
an error of a word to all the questions of the Church of England
Catechism. After this, a concluding anthem was sung and the
little chaplain of the day (the elder boys take the service, I believe,
in turn) pronounced the benediction, and then, to an appropriate
march from the organ, in the same military order they entered
the chapel, they left it and took their places at the supper table,
where the large congregation, as they passed through the room,
saw them enjoying their bread, cheese and milk.

A more impressive service I never witnessed, and at its close
I could not but feel thankful that in Christian England institu-
tions of this character are many and not " far between."

England Still Youthful and Vigokous.

In republican America (and, I regret to say, in British
America occasionally, too, — from the lips and pens of a few who
really know better) the idea is promulgated in private and through
the press, by seme wilfully and in enmity, and by others, I dare-
say, ignorantly, that old England is becoming exhausted, an effete
country, and rapidly declining in the scale of nations. To the
men who, being misinformed, really entertain such opinions, I
would say, cross the Atlantic and personally see the British Isles.
Visit the great metropolis of England with its more than three
millions of inhabitants; see for yourselves the manufacturing
and commercial centres ; look at its agricultural and mineral
wealth, its fisheries, its maritime strength and power, its ever-
expanding railway, postal and telegraphic communications, its
educational institutions (becoming annually more open and free),
the constitutional and religious liberty and freedom of her people,
and. having done this, I ask you to spend one short week in Liver-
pool, with your eyes wide open and your locomotive apparatus in
active operation, that you may form correct impressions of this
single seaport of the old Fatherland, and after having mentally
measured her commerce and her commercial relations, and seen her
manufactories, her steamships, her wooden and her iron walls, her
railways and railway communications, her public and private
buildings, and last, but not least, her noble charities, if you do
not return to your homes convinced that you have been fostering
error, your moral natures must be obtuse indeed, and your natural
prejudice so great that even the strongest and most positive testi-
mony, on England's side, can find no resting-place in minds so
constituted.

In discussing the subject of England's true position among the
nations, one should not and cannot keep in the background the
great fact that above and beyond what she is per se — that is to

260 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

say, within the circumscribed limits of her own shores — far over
the ocean, in all climes, great possessions are hers, and many of
them populated largely by her own offspring whose commercial
relations with the parent country are intimate, extensive and
annually increasing, but the tie that binds them more firmly
together than all others is that of affection, giving to this mother
of many nations not only a material, but a moral strength, that
no words can measure or convey. Again, an element of strength,
of real strength, is possessed by Britain, which is not often placed
in the balance when this subject is being considered, especially in
its natural relations. With much that is wrong, and much that
is sinful, clinging to her, she is still among the nations eminently
a Christian nation desiring to be at peace with the world, from the
best and highest of all motives. If this desire, practically carried
out, has occasionally placed her in the eyes of others in an anom-
alous and apparently in a false position, and is by them viewed as
an indication of impaired power, we may rest assured that the
great Source of all strength and all power does not so look upon
the matter — and in Him is her strength !

A rapid run by train of eight or nine hours, through and past
many manufacturing towns and villages that have grown up
within the past few years, through a country with varied scenery,
at first level, cultivated and beautiful, then, as we advance north
towards the borders of Scotland, still beautiful, but more rugged
and mountainous, landed us three weeks ago in the capital of
Scotland — my temporary home of former years, probably the most
beautiful city in the world, and one that has great attractions for
me. Here I am at school again.

With kind remembrances to those of your readers to whom I
may be known,

I am, dear Editor,

Yours very truly,

D. McN. Paekek.

CHAPTER VII.

EDINBURGH, 1871-3.

" Every day that we spend without learning something is a day lost."

— Beethoven.

Within a few days after arrival, a house, 13 Salisbury Place,
at the corner of Minto Street, was rented and domestic arrange-
ments were completed. The children were placed at schools,
Johnston matriculated in Medicine at the University, and my
father plunged at once, with the enthusiastic ardor of the true
student and investigator, into the current of his work. He
attended special lectures at the University and the Royal College
of Surgeons, clinics at the Royal Infirmary and the hospitals, and
investigated, practically, all that was new in surgery. He was
known to many of the men of mark in Edinburgh, both of the
Faculties and of those engaged only in private practice, and he
was soon in touch with any others of his profession whom he
wished to know. Old friendships with Professor A. R. Simpson
(a nephew of Sir James), Professor Syme, Sir Robert Christison,
Bart., Dr. Balfour, and others, were renewed. New ones with
Dr. Thomas Grainger Stewart, Professor of Pathology, afterwards
the Queen's Physician for Scotland and knighted, Professor Lay-
cock, Dr. Gordon, and other front-rank men were formed. They
afforded him every facility, took him about to see their most inter-
esting or unusual cases, and the courtesy and consideration which
had been extended to him by Sir James Y. Simpson in 1857 were
multiplied by such of the medical and surgical fraternity
as could in any way serve his purposes. He was asked by Dr.
Stewart (who was not a surgeon) to operate once or twice on his
patients, and did so — but would accept no fees. In vacation time
the Professor of Pathology even loaned him the original manu-
script of his University lectures, that he might get Pathology anew,
up to date. A two-volume copy of these lectures, made by my
mother, remains in the library. He seemed at once to win the
esteem and even the love of these men. Dr. Thomas Keith, the
famous operator of the day, was quick to appreciate his worth as
surgeon and sought his assistance, while he informed him in the
latest things in surgery, at his operating table. Dr. Keith was
then distinguishing himself in the surgical world by performing

261

262 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

a new, daring and difficult operation in gynecology. My father
was present at several of these. In an article on his various opera-
tions of this class, which was published by Dr. Keith in the Edin-
burgh Medical Journal for February, 1875, I find two references
to my father, one of which I quote: " On the 15th December,
1872, I saw a young Canadian lady, in her twentieth year, with
an ovarian tumor of rapid growth. She was sent by Dr. Camp-
bell and Dr. Drake, of Montreal. . . . The fatigues of the
voyage and the journey to town were well borne, but the drive
from the railway to her lodgings brought on severe pain. Being
then from home, I did not see her for a fortnight. During all
this time the pain continued, and she was confined to bed. Dr.
Parker, of Halifax, an old friend of the family, was fortunately
in town. He took charge of her till my return, and continued to
give me his kind assistance and counsel in the after management
of an unusually anxious case." I omit other details. This and
the other operations were highly successful, and saved lives which
a few years before must have been lost. Dr. Keith's absence from
home was due to a journey to Italy to operate, for which, as he
told my father, he received a thousand guineas.

This operation, a great advance in surgery, was then acquired
by my father, who subsequently performed it himself, and it is
typical of his professional acquisitions during this period of
research, when, as he used to say, he had come to Edinburgh to
learn his profession over again. It is typical of his professional
attitude and spirit, too, that when he came to relinquish work
entirely, in 1895, he said that if he were to pursue it longer (grant-
ing that the span of life were long enough) he must needs learn
his profession over again a third time, and take a very much
longer period for it, so vast had become the acquirements of
medicine and surgical science during the closing twenty years of
his practice.

One of the subjects investigated in this period of special
research was the new method of antiseptic surgery. Lister (after-
wards Lord Lister) for several years had been carrying on experi-
ments in this method, first at Glasgow and afterwards at Edin-
burgh, and the Listerian system, in its earlier developments, had
come into full practice at Edinburgh in 1870. This new learning
my father acquired at first hand, and introduced in his practice
when he returned. He knew Lord Lister, and met him later
several times in London when he was at the height of his fame.

The happy life in Edinburgh, for all, was clouded by the
sudden illness which befell Johnston in December, 1871. The
blow fell with stunning force upon the father, for he recognized
that the malady could not but be fatal, sooner or later, and, more-
over, it dashed his hope of having a son enter the profession while

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 263

he himself was yet in practice and who should become his suc-
cessor.

It had been arranged that my mother's brother and sister,
Martin and Celia, with their neice Mary A. Black, should come
over in January for a short European tour, on which my father
and mother were to join them. When they arrived, Johnston
had rallied and was much improved, so that my father felt able
to leave him in the care of Drs. Stewart and Gordon and go to
Europe, more particularly as he would have opportunity to select
some southerly place to which he could afterwards take Johnston,
when his condition and the season would permit. My mother
was to join the party, with Johnston, later, for this purpose, if
he should be well enough to travel.

I find my father's passport, from the Lord Provost of Edin-
burgh, dated the 20th of January 1872, and vised by the Vice-
Consul of France at Leith the same day. The party set out
about the first of February, and after visiting Torquay and
Dartmouth, in the south of England, with a view to Johnston's
future location, crossed to Calais. In the event, the tour was
shortened in consequence of unfavorable news of Johnston,
who did not improve sufficiently to undergo travel, even to
Torquay or Dartmouth. They returned about the middle of
March. The itinerary was: Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, Cannes,
ISTice, Genoa, Pisa, Civita Vechia, Xaples, Pompeii, Herculaneum
and Mount Vesuvius, Borne, Poligno, Florence, Bolonga, Venice,
Verona, Milan, Turin, Macon on the Rhone, Dijon, Paris,
Boulogne, — and thence across Channel to Dover. From Turin
they crossed the Alps by the Mont Cenis Tunnel which had been
opened for travel only on the 17th of September, 1871, and was
then considered one of the engineering wonders of the world.

Voluminous and painstaking notes of travel were taken by my
father on this occasion. The things to see in Europe have been
so long the same and have now become so familiar to us, that
little account of this tour, from his note-book, will be attempted.
Let it suffice to say that what he wrote is marked by a thoroughness
of observation, a keen, appreciative and discriminating insight,
and by a thoughtful, philosophical treatment in his comments
upon his investigations. Yet, embarrassed and oppressed, as he
was, by anxious solicitude for Johnston, as the letters to him
disclose, this tour could not afford anything like the usual
enjoyment which he was wont to find in this mode of recreation.

The unusual matters of interest in European travel at that time
were the desolated condition of Paris, through the work of the
Commune following the Franco-German war, the re-construction
of the French nation under Thiers, and the new birth of the
Italian people, nationally, together with the beginning of evangeli-

264 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

cal work in Rome, which followed upon the overthrow of the Papal
States in September, 1870, and .the entrance of King Victor
Emmanuel II., the first king of United Italy, into Rome, in 1871.

Paris had surrendered to the Germans less than a year before
my father visited it. The bloody civil war of the Commune which
ensued in Paris had ceased only in the summer of 1871. The
Empire had been washed out in blood. During the civil war it
was impracticable for the Legislative Assembly, whose authority
legally ceased with the ratification of the peace with Germany, to
dissolve and appeal to the confused voice of the country. The
pressing need was to restore tranquility by suppressing the
Commune; and the Assembly, transcending its powers, by neces-
sity, elected Thiers, a former minister of Louis Phillipe, the
first President of a new Republic. His administration suppressed
the Commune with much difficulty, and the Assembly (Corps
Legislatif) at the time of my father's visit was engaged in secret
deliberations looking to the payment of the German war indemnity
of a thousand million dollars, and thus freeing French soil from
the invaders, who were still occupying it to enforce payment.

At Paris the prostrate Vendome Column, the sacked public
buildings, the bullet-marked wall before which the Archbishop of
Paris and other noted men had been placed for execution by
volleys of musketry, and all such other customary destructive
work of Parisians in revolution were seen, together with ruined
fortifications and many others of the scars upon the city, left
by the ravages of war. From notes made at Paris and on the home-
ward way I extract the following passages, because they touch upon
things outside the category of what visitors to Paris at ordinary
times may see and tell; and further, because they reflect this
especial visitor's personality in their comment upon things, and
in the attention devoted to the " Culte Evangelique " there, as had
been the case at Rome. It goes without saying that in these notes,
just as at other places visited, all the great sights of Paris and
its environs, and many other minor ones, are enumerated and
described, even to details of the treasures of Art. But it is my
aim to extract rather my father himself from these notes than any
account of places of usual resort in Paris, or elsewhere.

" Pakis, Tuesday, March 5, 1872.
• . Walked out in the morning to view the ruins
of the Hotel de Ville, the Palais Royal, the Palace of Justice
and other places. Magnificent structures all of them. The
Tuileries was also destroyed. . . . The statuary at the
entrance of the Tuileries gardens was injured by shot and shell.
One winged horse had his stone tail shot off, and he was ( winged '
— lost one of his wings — while the column on which he stood

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 265

was also struck and broken. All these were magnificent ruins.
The Tuileries is being repaired, the Palace of Justice also, and
La Gloire, on the site of the old Bastile, a small but high statue,
gilt, — a man with one foot on a gilded ball on the summit,
wings on his back, one foot drawn up and the hands extended as
if in the attitude of running (Mercury?) The mane of the lion
at the base had been pentrated by a ball, and there were many
bullet marks on the lower part of the statue. Everywhere we
noticed the signs of destruction — new and fine structures being
raised and built where others had been destroyed by the Commune.
Many localities are as they were left by the Commune.

"Notre Dame. . . . Treasures shewn us. The apparel
of state worn by the Emperor Xapoleon I when he was crowned
in 180-1 by the Pope — also all the paraphernalia worn by the
Pope himself on that occasion, — gold, gold, gold; velvet, velvet,
etc., etc., " Magnifique. Grand.' A part of the habiliments of
office of the three archbishops who have been murdered during
insurrections — all dust and blood-covered and perforated by
bullets. We saw also the two vertebrae of the archbishop who
was shot on the barricades in June, 1848, with an arrow marking
the track of the bullet, and the bullet, on its end, which killed
him ; a piece of the ' true cross ' — and a number of other relics
too numerous to mention .

" Thursday, March 7, 1872. Louvre. . . . Room of
Charles Lebrun, greatly injured by shells, the frescoed roof
very much injured. Two of the paintings pierced by balls or
pieces of shells.

" Invalides. Tomb of Napoleon. . . . Jerome Bona-
parte window here broken and the letter X. with a crown on it
was shot through. .

" Saw the site and the base of the magnificent triumphant
Column Vendome, torn down by the Commune, in Place Yen-
dome. Bronze basrelief on the base still observed. Drove to the
Bourse, — heard the noise of the babel before entering it, a long
way off. Steps and porch crowded with excited people. Went
upstairs and looked down. The crowd was immense and the
sight beyond description. Umbrellas and walking sticks had
to be left outside, lest in their fury they should attack each
other. . . . When I see now in the papers ' the Bourse
excited,' I will be able to picture the scene — when ' flat,' I will
know the row is only a moderate one. The Bank of France was
next visited. . . . saw apartment after apartment filled with
officers and clerks. Soldiers everywhere about it. It was being
repaired after the attack of the Commune, and looked, outside,
in a most dilapidated condition.

" The New Church of the Madeleine. . . . Outside

266 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEE, M.D.

its main door the everlasting l Egalite, Fraternite, Unite ' painted
or carved into the stone. Churches, national buildings of every
kind, the prisons, and even the ' Pere la Chaise ' have these con-
tinually recurring words at the entrance gates. The cemetery,
however, is the only place where they in reality convey the truth,
and that will require a word of modification, or explanation;
because the wicked will be punished, not alike — some will be
beaten with many stripes, and some will not. While the saints
will be all the children of God, and if children then heirs and
joint heirs with Christ; yet some will be in Abraham's bosom,
and some will be told to go up higher. No, even in Pere la
Chaise, to the outward eye, the words egalite, fraternite are not
applicable, for the outward display in the work on the tombs of
the rich and great is in sad contrast with that in the case of
the poor and the narrow tombs merely marked by dark painted
wood — often without a name. . . . The very men who write
these words and parade them abroad, have sometimes not the
fraternal feelings of humanity — as for instance those who took
Archbishop Darboy out and shot him like a dog, as they had
done before (with a previous archbishop) on the 24th June, 1848,
and even once before that. As I viewed the blood-stained gar-
ments, the vertebrae and the bullet, I felt that if the Arch-
bishopric of this Diocese were offered me, I should gracefully
decline it, as I have no desire either to be shot or to be canonized.
At the church door these words are a lie, for even there egalite,
fraternite, unite, have no existence — as for instance in the
Ecumenical Council, on the infallibility question, there was not
unity, but division, which has resulted in the secession of Dollinger
and others, and has also led to the discussion at Rome relative
to Peter's never having been in that city, in which the ex-priests
of the R. C. faith opposed three still existing priests. Equality
certainly does not exist in the church, as the Pope lives in the
Vatican with its 11,000 rooms and the Cardinals and Bishops
live in palaces, while the Capuchins go begging from door to
door daily, almost bare-footed, and one we saw living in a dark
hermit's cell in the tunnel between Naples and Puzzioli ; and
these men go on their knees to the Pope and kiss his foot.
And as regards fraternity, I fear there are as many divisions
in the R. C. church as there are among other denominations.

" Versailles. . . . became the headquarters of the King
of Prussia, 5th February, 1871, who was here proclaimed German
Emperor, 18th February, 1871. National Assembly and the
President, Thiers, sit and live here. Commenced their sessions
there during the reign of the Commune at Paris in 1871. . . .

" Friday, March 8, 1872. By train for Versailles. Went on

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 267

to Vincennes. . . . Came back as far as Bel Air Central.
. . . Arriving at Versailles 2.30 — the train being an omnibus
instead of an express. . . . The drive around the suburbs
of Paris, however, quite repaid us and we saw the earthworks
thrown up during the war and passed the scene of many a hard
fought contest between the French and Germans, and after-
wards the Commune. . . . Nothing but soldiers, where the
Corps Legislatif is in session. Wooden huts were built on the
broad streets near the Palace to accommodate the soldiers. We
visited the magnificent church connected with the Palace now
used as the chapel for the Corps Legislatif. We were not per-
mitted to see the apartment in which the Assembly was con-
vened, or to hear their discussions. . . . However, we saw
President Thiers and had a good look at him on two or three
occasions as we passed and re-passed him. He is an old, little
man ; in size and walk, as in general appearance, very like the
late M. B. Almon. . . .

" Saturday, March 9th, 1872. Bois du Boulogne. . . .
In coming and going we passed the magnificent Arch of
Triumph of Napoleon, with its basreliefs and carvings of vic-
tories— some of them broken and destroyed by the recent
war. . . . It is a place of great resort. Mary Ann and Judge
Wilmot met the Emperor here on horse-back when they were
in Paris in 1867, at the Exhibition. As we neared the Tuileries
we saw very many places where balls and shells had struck the
stonework and done great damage. It was gutted and destroyed
by the great fire that raged within — set by the Commune.

" Strange to say one sees everywhere on the old property
of the State — that which belonged to France ere Napoleon was
crowned Emperor — ' Propriete Republique Francaise ' and
' Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite,' and on that which was added after
the second Empire ' Propriete Nationale.' It is strange that
Napoleon III had not the courage to rub the paint brush over
the former words. He left them as prophetic words to tell a sub-
sequent historic tale, a ' Republique ' under Thiers, — ' Liberte,
Eglite, Fraternite, under the Commune.

" " Sunday, March 10th, 1872. Went at 11 a.m. to 19
Rue des bons Enfants — near Palais Royal, and then under the
sign of Hotel de la Chancellerie D'Orleans I saw the words ' Culte
Evangelique.' An old lady from a little shop, when I asked her
for the ' Chapelle Baptiste,' led me up two pairs of stairs and
introduced me to some women who led me through their dining
or living, room, and then through two bedrooms where young
men were dressing, and from thence into the chapel, which is
larger than most of the Protestant chapels or rooms I saw in Italy.
The service was to be in French, and a young man informed

268 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

me that the Sabbath School would be in session at 2 o'clock in the
afternoon; so I concluded to go in search of a place of worship
where I could understand the service — and brought up at the
Independent Church in 23 Rue Roy ale. I had some difficulty in
finding it, but at length succeeded. It was on the ground floor.
I noticed a sign over the next door, ( Bierres Anglaises. Vins
Spiritueux,' and, putting the two words, ' Anglaises ' and ' Spirit-
ueux ' together, it looked like the place — but I soon found my
error.

"... The chapel was just in the midst of the district
ruined by shot, shell and fire of the Germans, or Commune, or
both, and close to the Place Vendome and the stump of the
Column. The carpenters' hammers, saws and planes were going
all around us, and in addition, the ' vins' of the sign next door
appeared to have produced their results on some of the neighbors,
for there was much hallooing, quarreling, etc., etc., and one
virago ! Whether she was old or young I could not tell, but
her tongue ran at a terrible rate, interfering with and drowning
in part the voice of the minister. Very likely she was one of the
ladies of the Commune who ran about, during their Parisian reign,
with bottles of petroleum, camphene, etc., to fire the city.
I went to visit the Sunday School at 19 Rue des bons Enfants,
but a mistake had been made by my informant and I got there
too late. The regular afternoon service had commenced, in French,
and I remained to listen, but not to understand. . . .
Two of the tunes sung were familiar old Granville Street tunes,
so that I could join in and sing the air with the congregation.
. . I told Mr. Lepoids (the pastor) who I was, and he
warmly welcomed me. . . They had a conference meeting
of the church immediately after the congregation had dispersed,
and he then introduced me to them, and sent, through me, the
Christian salutation and blessing of the church to the Granville
Street Baptist Church in Halifax, having first taken the vote and
the unanimous consent of his church on the matter. All voted
holding up the right hand and standing, and all looked right
glad to see a Canadian, as I called myself. They wondered that
I, a Canadian, could not speak French. It was a pleasant meet-
ing for me and I rejoiced that I had found and been present at
two ' Temples of Jesus Christ ' on this, the Lord's day, in Paris,
where ' belief in God ' and His precious Word is faithfully pro-
claimed, notwithstanding the statement made by M. Brunet in
the paragraph which I now quote from the London Standard of
March 9th, 1872. It is a telegram dated: Versailles, March 8th,
Evening. ' The Assembly rejected a proposal of M. Brunet for
the erection of a Temple to Jesus Christ on the Trocadero, as an
expression of belief in God, which M. Brunet declared to be neces-

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 269

sary for national regeneration. M. Brunet made a long speech
on the necessity of religious belief, and was warmly applauded
by the Right/ I was in Versailles on that day trying to get
into the Chamber, and, if I had been successful, would probably
have heard this remarkable and wonderfully suggestive speech.
There are thousands upon thousands of Temples in France
dedicated nominally to Christ, but actually to saints or to the
Virgin, to fallible men or to Mary the mother of Jesus : Notre
Dame, costing its millions of dollars and having its millions of
treasures; the Holy Chapel almost covered, within and without,
with gold fairly dazzling the eyes of beholders; the great Mag-
dalene, and hundreds of other chapels and churches. Yet M.
Brunet says there is necessity in Roman Catholic France, here-
tofore the strong right arm of the Pope, a country full of priests
and Jesuits, to have a temple raised to Jesus Christ, as an expres-
sion of belief in God. It reminds one of Paul at Athens. ' His
spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to
idolatry.' Apparently M. Brunet's spirit was stirred within him.
M. Brunet evidently thinks of the French, as Paul thought of the
Athenians, that they are ' too superstitious,' and he is desirous that
they should erect a temple ' to the Unknown God,' that the nation
might acknowledge and worship Him instead of saints, virgins and
idols. What a commentary upon the religious condition of France,
full of churches, every village being supplied with one, and the
priests being so thick that you can hardly put your foot upon any
part of French soil without stumbling over half a dozen of
them. . . . But what I have seen as the work of the
Commune makes me readily believe that God is scarcely wor-
shipped throughout this vast city by the masses of its popula-
tion. It needs more than gilded, magnificent works of stone,
marble and bronze — it needs more than a temple ' to Jesus Christ '
to regenerate this people. It needs the Gavassis, the Hyacinths
and the Dollingers, and it needs even these men, these large-
brained reformers to have greater light than they even now
possess ; it needs their hearts, as well as their understandings,
to be consecrated and given to God. The temples that God
requires here are the softened, subdued, Christ-like hearts. These
should be, and, I trust, will be, in France as well as elsewhere
the temples of the living God. Silver and gold, bronze and the
painter's brush are powerless, but God's Holy Spirit can accom-
plish great things for France. He can renew and regenerate
the nation and make it, as a whole, a temple indeed of the Living,
the, at present, Unknown God. ... I copied the inscrip-
tion from the bronzed base of the Column Vendome. . . .
Only a circular piece of stone of the depth of 2 or 21/2 feet
is left standing on the square pediment. The four eagles at

270 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

each corner of the pediment were untouched, and still remain.
. . . The column was vast and high, decorated with emblems
and scenes of war from top to bottom. The Communists with
ropes and various appliances turned it over, and it was suddenly
converted into a broken column. . . . The button-hole
decorations are numerous everywhere. I would like to under-
stand what they mean. . . . Monday, March 11th, St. Cloud:
As we passed along, a couple of miles of the earth and
stonework defences thrown up by the Imperial Government to
defend the city against the German met us on all sides. Great
destruction of property, public and private, was noticed. Shells
passed through the walls of stone houses, leaving their marks in
the walls, and then bursting inside, scattered destruction on all
sides. Hundreds of houses were thus knocked to pieces. Iron
railings cut, broken and scattered as if they had been glass rods.
A barracks for soldiers was left, riddled by shell. Bomb-proofs
were every here and there passed. . . . Chateau Royal.
This beautiful old building, so celebrated in the history of
France, was made a ruin by the German artillery on the sur-
rounding hills, which destroyed not only the Chateau and the
barracks, but all the central part of the town (St. Cloud). . . .
" In 'the evening at 8 o'clock I started to find my Baptist
brother M. Lepoids, the pasteur of the church I attended on
Sunday. I drove two or three miles in a cab and then found
him, in reality, in an upper chamber, with a prayer meeting and
Bible-class going on. Several of those present, he informed me,
were Roman Catholics seeking after the truth as it is in Christ.
I could not understand what was said, but I felt wonderfully
at home with my brethren in the Lord. When he told me he was
sorry that I could not understand, I told him that I never more
regretted in my life the undertaking of the erection of the Tower
of Babel, because if it had not been for that I could have under-
stood the whole service; but I told them I hoped to meet them
all in Heaven, where there would be only one language — one
tongue and one Nation. They appeared to be amused about the
Tower of Babel, and when we parted we shook hands as old
friends bound Heavenward. . . . " " His members, he told
me were about 100, and he is getting along well with God's work.
His wife is a teacher in the public schools and has charge of
ninety-one scholars. Her voice is giving away with much speak-
ing. Finding that I was a doctor, they asked me to prescribe,
and I did. This sister was my only patient in France. I had
one in Rome (Rev. Mr. Smith) and I hope that God will bless
the means. I have been rather struck with the idea of the Baptists
in France and Italy always meeting in upper chambers. The
Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Independents all were on the

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 271

ground floor, and preaching, not to the natives and poor, but to
the English and Americans, while the Baptists are, in these
upper chambers, preaching to and teaching the poor. Inter alia,
this rather leads to the conclusion that, both in Italy and in France,
we, the Baptists, are the successors of the Apostles. We parted at
11 o'clock, or thereabouts, and if we never meet again on earth,
I hope to meet the Lepoids in Heaven."

In the letters to Johnston which follow, the beginnings of
the Protestant revival in Rome are touched upon in an interesting
way. In these letters, the last ever addressed by father to son, are
some things too sacred to be reproduced here. As in the case
of matters purely domestic, or of a private nature, occurring in
previous letters, these things are omitted. But the spiritual
counsel found in the letter of February 25th, 1872, is such a
typical illustration of the writer's religious faith, of the vital
reality which his religion was to him, and of the earnest force
with which he was accustomed to proclaim the Gospel, in its
simplicity, to others in conversation, and in public discourse, as
well as in his correspondence, that I feel under a sense of com-
pulsion to give this particular letter in full.

" The evil that men do lives after them ; the good is oft
interred with their bones." In such a communication as this,
may it not be that " he being dead yet speaketh " to those thus
privileged to hear the voice ? Who can tell but this simple, fervid
message of salvation sent by the heartsore father from old Rome
to his boy under the shadow of approaching death in another
old-world city famed in religious history, coming again to others
of that father's descendants, but now as a voice from " that bourne
whence no traveller returns," may fall once more as seed upon
receptive soil.

The Last Lettees to Johnston.

Hotel de Nice, Nice,

Sunday, February 11th, 1872.
My Dear Son :

We arrived here from Marseilles last evening after a very
pleasant railway journey through an Alpine country, the valleys
of which were cultivated, and the side hills also wherever earth
could be found. No cattle, sheep or horses, except those of the
latter in use. All the land was cultivated for the vine, the olive
and the orange, as well as other fruits, vegetables and cereals.
During much of the distance we ran close along the shore of the
Mediterranean Sea, which was placid and beautiful. The two
most important places we called at were Toulon, the southern
Brest, a great naval arsenal of France fortified in front and on

272 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

its heights very strongly, and Cannes, a most picturesque and
beautiful place where wealthy people reside in winter. The late
Lord Brougham lived there for years and owned a chateau, and
Lord John Russell is now a resident of the place. We are very
comfortably situated at the Hotel de Nice, as we have been
indeed in all the hotels. . . . We arrived just in time for
dinner, having been delayed, a few miles this side of Cannes,
by the late terrible accident at Pont de Brague, where a large
bridge had been washed away in consequence of the floods pro-
duced by the melting snow on the branches of the Maritime Alps
which everywhere run along the coast. We drove about two
miles in omnibuses and had our luggage trucked round to the
next station in advance of this point. ... I had a very
good night's sleep, and went to hear the Rev. Burn Murdoch, the
Free Church minister here, who gave us a very good, practical
sermon, without any display of oratory, from 2nd Corinthians,
6 : 14-18, and the first verse of the seventh chapter. The subject of
the immoral theatrical exhibitions, the horse races and the gambling
houses of Nice, all of which have been lately in full blast, occupied
a good deal of his time, and I only hope good results will follow
the faithful word of admonition addressed to his audience.

I assumed from not getting a telegram from mama at Mar-
seilles, or thus far, that you must be improving, and with much
anxiety to learn your real condition, I have, I trust, been thank-
ful to God for His mercy to you. Of course, had you been worse
mama would have telegraphed and I should have returned at
once. It seems dreadfully long, my dear boy, to be without any
intelligence from you, but I hope to have several letters on my
arrival at Rome. One written immediately on the receipt of
this will be sure to meet me there, at the " Hotel d'Allemagne,"
as before mentioned in my letter from Paris. I only wish now
that I had asked your mama to write me here. We hope to be
at Rome about next Saturday night. Before going to Rome,
however, we will be at Pisa, say on Thursday next, and my
address there will be " Hotel de Londres," where a telegram could
reach me after the receipt of this letter, should there be any
occasion for it. Our next stage is to Mentone, to-morrow even-
ing. Erom thence there is a break in the railway communication
until we arrive at Savona, a town some distance this side of
Genoa. The intervening distance has to be performed by diligence,
or coach, but we shall be repaid, we are told, for the fatigue by
the great beauty of the scenery. It is here described as being
the finest in Europe. Nice is beautiful for situation, but there
is no regard paid to the Sabbath day. This is the Carnival season
at Rome, and they are keeping it up here as well. All through
the city, men, women and boys are rushing, on foot, on horse-

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 273

back or in carriages, disguised with every description of mask
and dress, dancing and making all kinds of noises as they pass
along the streets. The hurdy-gurdys are playing, monkeys are
going through their performances on dogs' backs, etc. A small
steam engine connected with a panorama is driving musical
instruments. Carriages by hundreds are out with the inhabitants.
In short. Sunday here, my first in France, is more gay than any
other day in the week. How different from a Sabbath in Xova
Scotia and in Edinburgh. . . .

10 o'clock p.m. We have just learned that the diligence has
ceased to run from Mentone to Savona. We have consequently
changed our minds, on the spur of the moment, and have con-
cluded to take the steamer from this port to Genoa to-morrow
morning at 9 o'clock, and, if all goes well, we shall be there in
nine hours. This will put us into Rome one or two days earlier
than we anticipated, but a letter will still reach us if mailed at
once on the receipt of this. We cannot as yet say what day we
shall be in Paris on our return, but shall write from Rome and
tell mama, so that she may make her arrangements with Agnes
Shuttleworth to meet us there at the Grand Hotel du Louvre;
that is to say if you are well enough to be left at Torquay for a
few days, or rather, at first, at Dartmouth.

I have been in communication with a gentleman here, a
resident, clergyman of the Independent body, who having broken
down in health in London, is taking pupils and boarders. If it
is desirable, he may be able by and by to accommodate you in
his house. I have made all the necessary preliminary arrange-
ments, and we will act in the matter as God may seem to direct us.
Tell dear mama that I shall write her in a day or two from
Genoa or Pisa. In the meantime, if the doctors think you are
able to leave, and advise your removal in the course of a week
or two. she had better make her arrangements accordingly. I am
very anxious for her to see London and Paris before she goes out,
and if all things seem to be so ordered, the opportunity will be a
good one.

Aunt Celia, Cousin M. A. and Uncle Martin send their love to
you all. And now, my dear boy, farewell for a time. With
a great deal of love to mama, yourself, Mary Ann, Willie, Laura
and little Fanny, and kind remembrances to the doctors, Sarah
and Charles,

I remain, my dear son,

Your affectionate father.

D. McK Parker.
Mr. J. Johnston Parker,

13 Salisbury Place, Edinburgh.

274 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Rome, February 18th, 1872.

Sunday, Hotel d'Allemagne.

My Dear Son:

I wrote to mama last night, and having just returned from
church will avail myself of a quiet few minutes to drop you a
line while Uncle Martin, Aunt C. and M. A. are up on one of
the seven hills of Rome taking a look down upon the great city
of the Csesars and the Popes, of ancient statuary and monu-
ments. I was desirous of seeing Mr. Wall, the Baptist mission-
ary, and attending service in his upper chamber this morning,
but could not possibly hear a word of him. At the hotel they
knew nothing of anything in the shape of a Baptist, unless it was
the chapel or church of St. Jean de Baptista. I looked over
all the cards with notices of Protestant places of worship, hang-
ing up in the hotel, but found not a line concerning the immersers.
So remembering that the way to find a thief was to set a thief
after him, I carried the principle into effect in church hunting,
and went to the place where those most closely allied in doctrine
to the Baptists — the Free Church of Scotland — were to be found,
and sure enough I hit the nail on the head; for one of the
elders of the church, an Edinburgh Doctor of Medicine, Dr.
Phillips, gave me the address, and volunteered the statement
that Mr. Wall was doing a great deal of good in Rome. I intend
going to hear 'him preach this evening. The four Protestant
English and American Episcopal churches, Kirk of Scotland
and Free Church are just without one of the great and ancient
gates of Rome. The Popes of the past and present would not
allow them to come within its holy walls with their heresies.
But now, Mr. Wall has his upper chamber and preaching station,
not only within the walls, but almost upon the Vatican itself.
The sermon was an excellent one, from the clergyman of Cumray
on the Clyde, who is filling the pulpit of the Rev. Dr. Lewis
(just dead from diphtheria). It was on Heb. 12: 2 — "Looking
unto Jesus." It would have profited you, my dear son, to have
heard the Word so simply and so ably put to this small congre-
gation of 100 to 150 people. It was in beautiful contrast with
what we saw yesterday as we visited St. Peter's, and were pre-
sent at 4 o'clock vespers, at which service there were twenty-two
priests engaged in singing Latin to one old Italian woman, I
think a beggar. Gazing in through the bronzed gate or open
door there was a handful of English and American people stand-
ing. We could not understand a word they said, or sang, but
there were two beautiful voices, out of the twenty-two. We had
previously seen in the Church of Santa Maria, supra moenem,
over the site of the ancient Temple of Minerva, high mass per-
formed, in which, amid much of form, of genuflexions, of march-

EDINBUKGH, 1871-3 275

ing to and fro around the church in procession (a large proces-
sion it was, of Dominican monks carrying candles) the Eucharist,
the sacred wafer, the real body of Christ as they say, was being
marched around the church held up on a silk curtain by six or
eight priests — all the priests singing and some of the kneeling
audience. All bowed before the Eucharist except English and
Americans, who stood and looked on at the ceremony as a piece
of idol worship. We chanced to look in at the chapel by accident
at the time, having been taken there by our guide to see the
paintings, statuary, etc. I have a vast deal to see and to record,
and but little time to do it in. I am anxious to push on as fast
as possible, so as to be back to join you, and see exactly how
you are doing. You cannot tell, my dear boy, how thankful I
was to our good God to learn such good accounts of you from
mama's letter. I have heretofore been travelling with a heavy
heart, but shall go on my way now, more cheerful and contented.
While I am anxious for you to leave for the South as soon as
possible, I do not wish the slightest risk to be run, for I would
rather mama would leave you in Edinburgh for a fortnight longer,
if it can be done in safety, and join us in Paris, than to expose
you to cold or injury. If she cannot possibly come now, I will
take her in the summer by the Khine to Paris, and to London.
But I leave it all to the doctors and your mama to decide. God
will direct and guide in the matter. I can get you in the house
of a very nice man in Nice, who would look after your comfort,
but I fear the discomforts of their houses and the excessive,
debilitating heat of summer. Altogether, I think our first plan,
that of Torquay, will be the best adapted for your restoration,
and that must be the primary, the all-important consideration.
You can talk the matter over with Drs. Stewart and Gordon.
In three weeks, or four at most, I expect to see you, God willing.
Tell mama I am very sorry to tax her with letter-writing for
me, but the fact is, if I commence, I must write to a dozen, and
at the close of each day I really feel exhausted by the exertion
of walking and standing, and cannot spare a moment from my
work. I want to learn all I can while absent. In fact I shall
be obliged to do six months' work in one. . . . Give my love
to mama, Mary Ann, Willie, Laura and dear little Fanny, and
remember me to Charles and Sarah; and with much love to
yourself,

I remain, dear boy,

Your affect, father,

D. McN. Parker.
Mr. J. Johnston Parker,

13 Salisbury Place, Edinburgh.1

276 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

Rome,, Italy, Sunday night,

February 25th, 1872.
My Dear Son:

I was much pleased to see your handwriting under date
February 14th, and I perused your letter with interest, and
gratitude to God for His goodness in restoring you thus far toward
health. I pray to Him daily that the improvement may continue
progressively until you are restored to your former state physi-
cally; and spiritually, to the joys of His great salvation.

Instead of thinking your statements in relation to your spirit-
ual state " unsatisfactory," I look upon them as just the opposite.
I thank God that He has put it into your heart to pray to Him
for a renewed heart, and this, I feel assured, you are doing sin-
cerely. And you may rest in faith upon Him who said of Paul :
" behold he prayeth," and then received him as His adopted child
and never after let go the hold He had of him, but through good
report and evil report, through trials and persecutions — some of
them quite near the spot where I am writing this — through temp-
tations and hardships, preserved him as His faithful, loving
follower to the end of life, and then took him to glory. Now, as
regards " feeling," that is a matter you cannot control. It is God
who gives us emotional feeling, or withholds it. He does not
tell us to weep and cry and mourn continually over our sins.
All He says is : " Believe on Me and ye shall be saved," and the
real test of our belief, in His eyes, is the ceasing to do evil and
learning to do well. If a man had jumped into the sea and saved
your life, I have no doubt you would be grateful, but that grati-
tude, in a person of your temperament, would not be likely to take
the demonstrative form. At the same time, if this individual
asked you to do anything for him, in reason, I have no doubt you
would gladly and promptly accede to his request. Now, Christ
has done more than hazard His life to save yours. He has sacri-
ficed that life for you, and all He asks in return is, that you
should believe He has done it ; that you should confess with your
mouth that He is the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, and believe in
your heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, and you shall
be saved. He does not say: weep, mourn, be of a sorrowful heart,
and go in sackcloth and ashes for your past sins and neglect
of Him — but rather, believe and rejoice. Man never has and
never can feel that contrition of soul for his sins that he should.
But that is a matter for Christ to consider, and if He is con-
tented to take and receive you just as you are, just take Him at
His word and say: " I go, Lord, here I am just as I am; accept
and receive me," and the Father will receive and pardon you,
and make you a son, and, if a son, an heir of God and a joint-
heir with Christ.

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 277

But this is to be remembered, that having determined to
accept the great salvation on the simple and easy terms offered
in the Gospel, the old man must be put off and the new man must
be put on; that is to say: wherein you have wittingly disobeyed
and sinned against God in the past, you must sin no more, but
must determine to relinquish those occupations, pleasures, com-
panions and sins of every description which have heretofore led
you astray and away from Him. It will be no acceptance of Him
and His terms, if the sinner says, ' I will believe in the Lord
Jesus that I may be saved," and the next moment, in direct opposi-
tion to His Father's commandments, openly and wittingly breaks
those commandments. After having determined to serve the Lord,
the determination must be carried out, every hour, with watch-
fulness and care, trusting in the Lord for strength to resist
temptation and trials; and He will most assuredly give you the
strength to resist, and to continue to serve Him. And, this very
obedience and trustfulness and prayerfulness having enabled you
to conquer your trials and temptations, will beget, to a greater
or less extent, the comfort, happiness, or even the joy, which in
the beginning, even before you have made the consecration of
yourself to Him and His cause, you are looking for. The deter-
mination and the consecration must first be made, in faith, and
leave all the rest to God. All other things will be added, and
your soul will be saved. It is useless to say " I would like to be
a Christian," without resolving and acting. In every act of life
that is attended with success, effort is demanded, and without effort
put forth and sustained, men never succeed in anything. Just
so is it in the business of the soul's salvation. Resolve ! Act !
and prayerfully commit the rest to Him who has made the
promise that your soul, under such circumstances, shall be saved.
" Now is the accepted time. This is the day of salvation."

I glean from your mother's letter that I am likely to find
you in Edinburgh on my return. If you had the strength to
move, and she would accompany you, there would be no necessity
for this; but I shall learn in Paris whether I am to see you at
Dartmouth or Torquay, or Edinburgh. I do not wish you to
work at French or anything else just now. Recreation may be
taken in this way, but nothing more.

Last Sunday evening I found out Mr. Wall's missionary meet-
ing in Rome, and found the place of worship was like that of
St. Paul in the long years that are past — " in his own hired
house." It was crammed to overflowing by anxious listeners and
Bible students, who a few months before were Romanists. I met
there a minister and his three deacons from Bristol, England,
who were taking the same tour we have been doing. Almost

278 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

the first question one of them asked me was : "Do you know
Mrs. Joplin in Halifax ?" I replied " Yes ; and intimately," and
then found out that they were friends of hers. Strange that
I should have met them almost under the Vatican, where twelve
months since the whole of us would have been arrested by Papal
soldiers for taking part in a heretical meeting. But things are
changed here now. On the 9th of this month a discussion took
place between three Jesuit priests and three missionaries, in the
Academy of the Tiber here, on the subject of the presence of
Peter in Rome ; the Protestants asserting that he never had been
in the city at all ; the priests saying he was here for a number of
years and was crucified, head down, on the exact site of the
great Cathedral which bears his name. The contest has excited
great attention. The priests got terribly handled and worsted
in the argument, especially by Gavatzi. All the Protestants had
been priests in former years. Our guide through Rome Was
full of it, and although nominally a Catholic, rejoiced at the
defeat the Papal three had received. He would often repeat to
me the words, " The Evangelists won it," as if the six had been
contending in the old Roman races as athletes. To-day I went
to Mr. Wall's service again, and, as on Sunday evening last, the
service was in Italian, and, of course, could not be understood
by me. But I enjoyed it exceedingly from the fact that I could
plainly see the poor people who were present were drinking it
all in as new and unheard-of truths. In Mr. Wall's rooms it
was that Mr. Spurgeon preached, a couple of months since,
and was interrupted by a Jesuit priest who went in with the
crowd to hear him. I partook of the communion with the little
band of baptized believers, and altogether had a pleasant morning.
Present at it was the representative of the American Baptist
Missionary Society. Rev. Mr. Cote, an Edinburgh surgeon's
son, had been preaching here since November last. As soon
as he knew I was from Nova Scotia he asked me if I knew
Dr. Cramp, and when I told him I did, he said : " I have his
Baptist History in my library." His father was a missionary
at the Grand Ligne station, near Montreal, and has preached for
us at Granville Street. He has just completed for the Baptist
Missionary Society of the United States a complete history of
all the baptisteries in Italy connected with the old Roman
Catholic church, which will prove beyond dispute that they, as
well as those in the Catacombs, were used for immersing the
candidates. I spent three hours with him to-day, and a most
interesting time we had. ... He tells me that not long since
he baptized forty on the Adriatic side of this Italian peninsula,
at a town called Bari, and he has soon to go there again for the

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 279

same purpose. Mr. Wall has a Bible class of sixty men and women
of all ages, once or twice a week, at his house, and I was present
at his Sunday school this morning, also at a meeting of members
after the Communion, to discuss doctrinal points, so that they may
be armed for the contest with the enemy. Mr. Wall told me that
there are one hundred names on his list of applicants for member-
ship, but he has to be very careful as to whom he admits. Some
think they should be baptized before they are taught the nature
of the ordinance. One attempted to stab him the other night
because he was dismissed for drunkenness ; and Mr. Cote says
he has- been convoyed by soldiers to and from his preaching
stations, to save him from the assassins' knives. But the result
of the recent great victory in the St. Peter discussion has acted
as a quietus to the Jesuits, and they are not so openly hostile
now as they were a few weeks since.

Take care of yourself, and may God bless you, my dear boy.
Ever your afft. father,

D.R

In the spring of 1872 the house on Salisbury Place was
exchanged for !No. 20 Mayfield Terrace, Newington, as more
preferable for Johnston, the situation being open and airy,
with the Queen's Park on one side and an unobstructed view
of the Braid Hills at the rear ; and a spacious garden was attached
to the property. This was the home of the family for the
remainder of the sojourn in Edinburgh.

But. nothing availed to stay the rapid progress of Johnston's
fatal malady, and he passed away on the first of July. His
remains lie in the family burial lot of the late Sir Grainger
Stewart at the beautiful Dean Cemetery. Upon his monument
his father inscribed the words : " Shall not the Judge of all
the earth do right ? " — words which commemorate the faith of
him concerning whom the Scriptures say he " believed God, and
it was counted unto him for righteousness," wo*rds truly expres-
sive of my father's child-like faith and his meek spirit of loyal,
trustful surrender to the will of his Father in Heaven. He could
not then understand, and like any mortal, had to grope his way in
the darkness for a time, but he could cling and trust while seeing
" as through a glass darkly." Now he knows and understands.

The remainder of that trying summer was spent in seclusion
on the Clyde, at Dunoon, with occasional excursions among the
Western Isles and Lochs, in the course of which liis student
quarters on the Isle of Bute were revisited, a call on old Halifax
friends at Helensborough was made, and there was a trip through

280 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

the Trossachs which included Stirling and the sail down Lochs
Katrine and Lomond. The diverting influences of the seven or
eight weeks so spent were very beneficial to my father's harassed
spirit, and he seemed to find further solace in his studies, too,
which were not discontinued. Recreation without his books would
soon grow wearisome. He returned to take up the burden of
duty at Edinburgh refreshed in mind and body.

As an illustration of his activity of mind at this period (when
he was engrossed in professional study) as well as of his public-
spirited interest in the affairs of his country and his strength in
political controversy with the pen, the following example will
serve :

The London Daily News of September 21st, 1872, contained
this editorial, which he answered in its columns with the letter
that follows:

" The Canadian elections have resulted in a series of ministerial
defeats so numerous and signal that nothing but a highly excited state
of the public mind against the most eminent persons in the Colony can
account for them.

" Sir John A. Macdonald, the Premier; Sir Francis Hincks, the
Finance Minister; Mr. McDougall, the Minister of Public Works, and
Sir George B. Cartier have been not only rejected, but rejected with
ignominy, most of them by constituencies which they have represented
for many years.

" In his letter which we printed yesterday, our correspondent at
Toronto explains with great lucidity the reasons of the great change
which has taken place in Colonial sentiment.

" The ministers have been presuming too much on their popularity,
and taking too much upon them by encroaching on the rights of the
people. The consolidation of the various provinces into one great
Dominion has made the old leaders of Upper and Lower Canada greater
men than they were before, and they have been too conscious of the
change. They persuaded the last Parliament to authorize them to raise
great loans and to leave the expenditure of the money to their uncon-
trolled judgment; and they decided upon the route of the Intercolonial
Railway — which is to cost £4,000,000 sterling — without asking the
sanction of Parliament. It was, however, their high-handed way of
dealing with the project of the Canadian Pacific Railway which did them
most harm at the poll. This great scheme, as passed by the last Parlia-
ment, included a Government subsidy of thirty million dollars in
money, and fifty million acres of land, besides the holding of as many
more acres by the Government as a reserve. The Government further
obtained power to make a contract" for the construction of the road, and
charter a company to make it.

" This was going very far indeed, and we need not wonder that the
Canadians saw danger in the extent to which their public men were
mixed up so largely with gigantic financial and speculative undertakings.
Our co-respondent says that in the Parliament of 200 members, 25 were
directly interested in the companies competing for the contract.

" The danger is one that besets all governments in undeveloped and
progressive countries. It will be interesting to see what the new Par-
liament will do, and very interesting indeed if it should put a limit to
these commitments of the taxpayers to great public works, of which the
cost and the utility are alike immeasurable."

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 281

20 Mayfield Terrace, Edinburgh,

September 28th, 1872.
To the Editor of the Daily News:

Sir, — My attention has just been called to your editorial
of the 21st inst. on the recent Canadian elections, and as it
contains several statements which are at variance with facts,
and as a whole is calculated to mislead, may I beg you to insert
this communication in your next issue, in order that the mis-
takes, into which your Toronto correspondent has led you,
may be corrected, and those of your readers who take an interest
in the political and financial business of the Dominion may not
continue to entertain erroneous impressions concerning the present
position of several leading Canadian statesmen, as well as in
relation to important public works, in which the British people
have a deep and a very direct interest. The article in the Daily
News, to which I refer, commences by stating that " the Cana-
dian elections have resulted in a series of ministerial defeats,
so numerous and signal that nothing but a highly excited state
of the public mind against the most eminent persons in the
Colony can account for them. Sir John A. Macdonald, the
Premier, Sir Francis Hincks, the Finance Minister, Mr. Mc-
Dougall, the Minister of Public Works, and Sir George E.
Cartier, have been not only rejected but rejected with ignominy,
most of them by constituencies which they have represented for
many years."

Doubtless you will be surprised to learn that Sir John A.
Macdonald, the Premier, was not recently, and never has been
rejected by the constituency of Kingston which he has repre-
sented, if I mistake not, ever since he has been in public life —
now more than twenty years. He is to-day the representative
in Parliament of Kingston, and the leader of the Government.
Sir Francis Hincks, Finance Minister, it is true, lost his seat
for the constituency he represented in the last house, but like a
number of the leading statesmen of Great Britain, in modern
times, whose temporary misfortune will be within your recollec-
tion— if rejected by one constituency, he was returned by another,
and is to-day a member of Parliament and the Finance Minister
of Canada. Sir Francis Hincks only sat in the last House for a
part of its term, having been returned to Parliament to succeed
Sir John Rose as Finance Minister when that gentleman retired
from public life. For many years previously he (Sir Francis)
had been absent from British America, employed by the British
Government as Her Majesty's representative in several of hex
Colonial possessions.

Mr. McDougall, whom you designate " the Minister of Public

282 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

Works," once occupied that position, but for the past three or
four years has not been a member of Government, and conse-
quently could not during that time be " Minister of Public
Works." He lost his seat, as did Sir George E. Cartier, and I
feel assured you will find I am right when I state that Sir
George, the Minister of Militia, is the only member of the Privy
Council who has not been returned to Parliament, and should
his health (which for some weeks past has been very seriously
impaired) be equal to it, he will obtain a seat the moment he
desires it. In passing, let me add that many of his ministerial
colleagues were returned either by acclamation or by overwhelm-
ing majorities. While both in Ontario and Quebec the Govern-
ment have lost several supporters, they have gained other seats
from their opponents, but as far as these two Provinces are
concerned their losses will not be compensated for by their gains.
However, the great changes that have taken place in the Mari-
time Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, in favor
of the present Ministry, and of Union, will quite compensate for
the losses they have sustained in the two Western Provinces,
and will enable them to meet Parliament with a good working
majority. In short, the position of Sir John A. Macdonald's
Government would be analogous to that of Mr. Gladstone, should
a dissolution of Parliament take place in this country and its
ministry should find that they had sustained losses in England
which were compensated for by gains in Scotland and Ireland.
England is not the whole of Great Britain, neither is Ontario
the whole of the Dominion of Canada.

Without saying so in direct terms, your editorial would lead
your readers to conclude that Sir John A Macdonald's Govern-
ment had been defeated at the recent general election, and specific
reasons are given for such defeat. Thus, you state : " Our cor-
respondent at Toronto explains with great lucidity the reasons of
the great change which has taken place in Colonial sentiment.
The ministers have been presuming too much on their popularity
and taking too much upon them by encroaching on the rights
of the people," etc., etc. This, taken in connexion with the
extract first quoted, does more than suggest losses and ministerial
rejections " with ignominy " — it must lead the general public
to the conclusion that the Government has fallen. My reply
to this has been given already, in the statement above made,
that the ministry in appealing to the people have been sustained,
a majority of the constituencies, in all the provinces but one,
having in this practical way expressed their satisfaction with
their past acts, and their confidence in them for the future.

One of the specific charges brought against the Dominion
Government is contained in the following sentence : " They per-

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 283

suaded the last Parliament to authorize them to raise great
loans, and to leave the expenditure of the money to their uncon-
trolled judgment; and they decided upon the route of the Inter-
colonial Railway — which is to cost £4,000,000 sterling — without
asking the sanction of Parliament." This is a matter in which
the British public have a very direct interest, inasmuch as the
larger portion of the above amount has been, or will be, obtained
on the guarantee of the Imperial Government, and any derelic-
tion of duty or misappropriation of funds, thus obtained, would
very naturally tend to impair British confidence in the Admin-
istration, Parliament, and country — hence it calls for a few words
of explanation.

It is true that the last Parliament did authorize the Executive
Government to raise a large loan for an important public work —
the Intercolonial Railway — to enable Western Canada to reach,
through British territory, the British seaboard, in the Mari-
time Provinces, at all seasons of the year. Hitherto the external
commerce of Ontario and Quebec in winter has necessarily had
to pass through a foreign country; and communication with
the sister Provinces on the seaboard and with the Mother Country
has been almost altogether through the United States. As soon
as the Provinces were confederated, this difficulty was met.
The Government was authorized to contract a loan, and having
the confidence of the country, was permitted to disburse the
money without first submitting detailed estimates for this special
service to Parliament. Just as the British Government is per-
mitted through its Admiralty Department to appropriate very
large amounts in the construction of ships of war, or through
the War Department to expend equally large sums in erecting
fortifications and defensive works, a gross amount is asked for,
and the details of expenditure are scrutinized, and discussed subse-
quently, or when the documents connected therewith are pre-
sented to Parliament, when, if misappropriations have been made
the Government will be held accountable.

Xow as regards the question of the route selected for this
railroad, permit me to state that as far back as thirteen or four-
teen years ago, a delegation from Canada, Nova Scotia and ~New
Brunswick came to this country for the purpose of obtaining from
the British Government a guarantee for the money required to
construct this Intercolonial road. The then basis of arrangement
between the different Provinces was, that a northern route should
be accepted, for Imperial as well as other reasons, which I need
not now discuss, further than to state that the British Government
has never at any time entertained the question of any other than
a northern route, which could be made available for military
purposes. To have constructed a road running throughout the

284 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

greater part of its course in close proximity with the American
frontier, would have been opposed to national interests, and in
case of war with the United States it would have been entirely
useless. My native Province — -Nova Scotia — entered the Union,
and I have no doubt that New Brunswick, through which country
a very large portion of the line runs, did so too, with the under-
standing that the arrangement of 1858 should be adhered to and
that the northern location should be adopted. Hence you will
perceive that when the responsibility (constitutionally and pro-
perly pertaining to the Government) of deciding the question,
devolved on them, they were nationally and morally bound to
adhere to the original agreement. And I may add, that Mr.
Mackenzie, the leader of the. Opposition, concurred as to the
desirability of finally selecting the North Shore line, and I
believe quite a numher of representatives who usually co-operated
with him entertained at the time similar views.

You characterize the action taken by the Government in
connexion with the Canadian Pacific Railway as " high handed,"
and assume that they were injured thereby at the poll. In
legislation, as you are aware, it is very hard to please everybody,
but in this immensely important matter, the Government appear
to have pleased a very large proportion of the people's represen-
tatives in the last House, and a majority of the constituencies
in that which will be convened in the early part of next year.
That this work, which is to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific,
Nova Scotia with British Columbia, and is destined to bring Eng-
land more readily and quickly into communication with China,
Japan, and other far-off lands, which in the future are to be large
markets for her manufactured productions, should be constructed
with the least possible delay, is a political necessity. Without it,
British Columbia and Manitoba, abounding in mineral and agri-
cultural wealth, would be useless members of our Canadian Con-
federation, and ere very long the more distant Province (placed
as it is between California and Alaska, two portions of United
States territory) and perhaps Manitoba, too, would drop into the
ever-ready lap of our great neighbor.

To construct this great continental highway, without render-
ing available, for that purpose, the land through which it is to
pass, is an undertaking far beyond the resources of the new-born
Dominion, so, following the example of the United States, in
which one Pacific road has been in operation for a few years,
and another is now in course of construction, the Parliament of
Canada concluded to subsidize a responsible joint stock company
to the extent, if necessary, of thirty millions of dollars and fifty
millions of acres of land, who would undertake to complete, equip
and work the road. Thirty millions of dollars is a small sum of

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 285

money when contrasted with the value of the work it is to aid in
completing, and it is an amount quite within the resources of the
vigorous and financially healthy Dominion. Fifty millions of
acres of land is an enormous quantity, even for an inhabitant of
a vast continent like America to think of and talk about; but
what is its value without means of access to it? — simply nil.
Let, however, a company thus subsidized open up the country
by a railroad, and carry thither emigrants from the densely
populated countries of Europe, for their own pecuniary advan-
tage, and they will enhance, an hundredfold, the value of the
millions upon millions of acres remaining to the Dominion.

Referring to your remark in connection with land reserved by
Government, along the line of the Pacific road — in alternate blocks
— which is not to be sold under a rate to be agreed upon with the
Company, permit me to suggest that this subsidy in land would be
of no value to the Company as a means of realizing money for the
completion of the road if it were not for such an arrangement;
for who would pay two, three or four shillings an acre for the
Company's land when they could procure it of the same quality
in the very next block for nothing ?

As regards your correspondent's remark, " That in the Parlia-
ment of two hundred members, twenty-five were directly interested
in the companies competing for the contract," I am not in a posi-
tion to dispute the statement, but let me ask what is there to object
to should such be in reality the case? Are there not joint stock
companies in Great Britain to-day, having business transactions
with the British Government, in which members of Parliament
are shareholders ? I think a little enquiry in the proper quarters
will elicit an affirmative reply to the question. And if such is the
case, may I not further ask if either these members of Parlia-
ment, or the Government, would be compromised before the House
of Commons, the Lords, or the country by such indirect business
transactions. It is stated in the paragraph last quoted that there
are companies (it is in the plural) competing for the contract to
construct this railroad. If such is the case, and I believe it to
be true, may we not hope that this competition will effect a saving
to the Dominion, and that some considerable portion of the thirty
millions of dollars, and fifty millions of acres of land — one or both
— may by this means revert to the country ? And if there should
be members of Parliament in each of the competing organizations,
should we not look upon it rather as a fortunate circumstance, as
those in the one company will be jealously watching the proceed-
ings of the others, while all will be narrowly scrutinizing the acts
of the Government in connection with this vast undertaking. You
are not to infer from what I have stated that Mr. Mackenzie, the
able leader of the Opposition in the last House, was hostile to a

286 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Canadian Pacific railroad. On the contrary, he and a large
number of his influential and intelligent followers were in favor
of it, but they differed from the majority on several of the prom-
inent features of the Government bill.

In conclusion let me say that I have not seen your Toronto
correspondent's letter, but I fear he has received his information
on Canadian political topics from ill-informed or very prejudiced
sources.

Apologizing for the length of this communication,

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

D. McN. Parkek.

The Christmas recess of two weeks (1872-3) was passed by
my father and family in London, where he was an excellent and
entertaining guide, as he had proved himself in Scotland during
various short excursions to places such as Stirling and the field
of Bannockburn, Glasgow, Abbotsford; Dryburgh, Melrose and
other abbeys, Hawthornden, various points on the east coast, and
elsewhere in the interior. From the reminiscences of that London
visit I recall his great pleasure in meeting and hearing Spurgeon
and Dr. Landells, then the foremost representatives of his religious
denomination in Britain.

He had hoped to obtain leave of absence from his legislative
duties for a second session, that he might prolong his residence in
Edinburgh until the ensuing summer or autumn, and find time to
visit some of the English hospitals; but in this he was disap-
pointed, his plans for more extended study abroad being defeated
by political exigencies. He gladly would have forfeited his seat
in the Legislative Council by remaining, or have resigned it ; but he
yielded to the clamor of political party associates, and in February,
1873, sailed from Liverpool for Halifax to take his seat, leaving
the family to follow when the schools closed in the summer.

The letters written at Edinburgh for the Christian Messenger
have already been referred to, and the first of them has been given
place in the order of time. The remaining six now follow. They
indicate his habits of thought, his thoroughness as an observer of
men and things, his careful study of conditions, institutions and
public questions as he met them when abroad, and they are exam-
ples of his style and method as a writer. Upon their own
merits, and because of their informing character, it fairly may be
claimed that these letters possess a general interest. At least for
anyone who would learn what manner of man the writer was, their
prolixity will hardly detract from their value.

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 287

For the Christian Messenger.

13 Salisbury Place, Newington, Edinburgh.
January 16th, 1872.
My Dear Editor, —

I was not a little shocked to see so large a portion of the Chris-
tian Messenger of November 16th occupied with my " Jottings by
the Way," which I supposed would have been subdivided into
parts and been given to your readers in two or three issues of your
paper. Men of my profession have been charged before to-day,
and I fear correctly, with overdosing their patients, and I must, in
this instance, plead guilty to having fallen into a similar error,
with this difference, however — the patients were yours, not mine,
which adds to the gravity of the offence. In again addressing you
I give you full liberty to break this present communication into as
many parts as may suit your editorial convenience, for, like the
last, I fear before I have done with the subject, which is to be
Edinburgh, that it will have overgrown the somewhat circum-
scribed limits which in commencing I have prescribed for myself.

EDINBURGH.

The subject is vast, and I hardly know where to begin. Indeed,
I feel very like the schoolboy who, when urged by anxious and
waiting companions to practically exhibit to them how to make
segments of a circle, by subdividing the maternal cake which lay,
deeply frosted, before them, replied that he did not know where to
commence, and if he were to follow the advice of his very disin-
terested and waiting friends he feared he might mar its beauty
and entirely spoil the circle.

Well, I feel very much as if I should " spoil the circle " were
I to attempt anything like a detailed description of Scotland's
great capital. Indeed, I believe I might as well attempt to
" square the circle " as to convey to your readers, in words, any
just conception of its appearance — of its natural or artificial
beauty; consequently I shall, with as much brevity as possible,
refer only to one or two features in this connection, and then pass
on to the consideration of some few of its many institutions.

ITS SITE.

To deal with the subject in the natural order of things, and in
accordance with prescribed principles, it would be necessary, first,
to recall the days when a few rude straw-thatched cottages (inhab-
ited by a hardy, uncultivated race of people) occupied the ridge or
rocky eminence between the Cowgate and Princes Street Garden,
in immediate proximity to the Castle Pock ; and from this primi-

288 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

tive beginning, much more than a thousand years ago, to trace its
progress through the centuries, until " the Modern Athens " of
our own day and generation is brought into view; but this is not
required, from the fact that the children of these happy days get
all these facts more correctly and graphically portrayed in the
popular and standard histories of their free schools and home
libraries than I could possibly give them in the columns of the
Messenger.

But the geological and the true antiquarian Scot would not be
satisfied with this as a starting-point ; and with pride of heart and
of nationality would direct attention to the fact that the Great
Architect of the Universe specially laid the foundations of Edin-
burgh, and in such a way that not even the simplest son of Adam
could have passed it by without recognizing the fact that the
locality was born to be the site of a great city, when from deeply
beneath the surface of the earth He elevated by volcanic action
the massive rocks and some of the undulating hills on and around
which most of it is built, leaving beautiful valleys just in those
positions where they would most gratify the eyes of those who first
beheld them, and eventually serve to add charming variety to the
scene when hill and dale alike should be covered by the dwelling-
places of their successors in subsequent ages. This beautifully
irregular foundation, besides having its great central and defensive
elevations, was, by the same creative power which called into
existence " the site," surrounded on all sides with natural barriers
and fortifications, as if to protect it from the assaults of enemies
beyond and without — and I may add every hill and every valley
for miles around has its traditional or written history of war and
romance, of victory and defeat, all interwoven with the nation's
history. On the north is the beautiful and broad Firth of Forth,
with here and there an island rising out of its generally placid
but sometimes terribly disturbed waters, which separates Edin-
burgh and Leith from the Fifeshire country.

On the east we have Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat, the
latter rising, lion-like, 822 feet above the sea's level, a beautiful
and bold object on which the eye may continually rest without
growing weary, a perfect Gibraltar, which if fortified would com-
mand all the eastern and south-eastern approaches to the city. On
the south and west the Blackford, the Braid and the Pentland Hills
rise up as elevated and protective walls, undulating and pictur-
esque to the eye, their natural beauty being enhanced by the rich
cultivation of their northern and eastern slopes, on which herds
and flocks quietly graze, giving additional variety to the scene.

On the western extremity of the elevated ridge (to which refer-
ence has already been made) commencing at Holyrood Palace and
Abbey, and gradually ascending, stands famed Edinburgh Castle,

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 289

a bold, irregular, craggy rock, having an elevation above the level
of the sea of some 440 or 450 feet. On three sides, north, west
and south, it rises from the valley beneath almost perpendicularly,
while it is easy of access from the east, by way of the High Street.
Of itself, this stronghold of the centuries past has a history full
of stirring, romantic interest, and the true Scot, as he looks with
pride upon the magnificent mass of dark rock before him, has his
heart moved and his blood warmed at the mere thought of the
deeds of daring which have taken place within and around this,
one of the great natural citadels of his country.

ITS PEOGEESS.

So great has been the growth of the city in recent times to the
south and west that the Castle now forms a magnificent central
spot from which to view it as a whole. From its ramparts the
eye rests upon symmetrical and beautiful structures of freestone,
in the form of fine broad streets, crescents, squares, public build-
ings, charitable institutions, monuments and church structures —
with numerous intervening and large gardens, where twenty-five
years ago the plow and the harrow turned over the rich soil, that
these broad acres, now thus beautified by the architect's skill, might
bring forth their abundant harvests for the supply of the markets
of Edinburgh.

Another stronghold in the central part of the city, at the
eastern end of Princes Street (the great thoroughfare or " Broad-
way " of the new town) is Calton Hill, another vast rock, the
elevation of which is only about 100 feet less than the Castle.
Instead, however, of bristling cannon its summit is covered with
monuments of men of national and worldwide reputation in war
and letters, whose deeds of arms and brain, in the years that are
past, are thus brought vividly before both natives and strangers as
they wend their way along the beautiful walks which in recent
times have been constructed on and around this lovely historic hill.

I have dwelt on these strong and natural points of defence
which on all sides surround Edinburgh, not because I possess
either military knowledge or tastes (although I have the honor
of being a disbanded militia surgeon), but to direct your attention
to a feature in connection with the capital which is not often
referred to by newspaper correspondents, but which must be
abundantly evident to all who visit the locality.

To the practical soldier these military points would be among
the first things to suggest themselves. Paris, with such natural
surroundings, and with a Firth of Forth to have given her access
to the sea, would in all probability have kept Von Moltke and
Bismarck outside her walls, and by means of such a continuation
19

290 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

of fortified heights would have saved France the national and
military degradation to which that country has so recently had to
submit.

The absence of such bold and elevated surroundings from
London and the great commercial marts of England gives Edin-
burgh an advantage over these cities, both as regards the pic-
turesque and in relation to the question of defence, which all the
appliances that money and science can devise cannot compensate
for ; and inasmuch as the natural fortifications to which I am
calling attention are to a great extent, like Gibraltar, of solid rock,
the mining engineer of an enemy would be thereby foiled in his
efforts to approach and undermine these natural citadels. The
walk down the High Street and Canongate from the Castle to
Holyrood Palace and Abbey brings before you the Edinburgh of
centuries past, with her narrow streets, her narrower wynds and
closes, her great, towering, dark and worn stone buildings, then
the homes of Scotland's noblest and greatest families, but now the
dwellings of the poorest of the poor. The hands of the Goths and
Vandals of these progressive times are busy, razing these anti-
quarian structures to the ground, widening the streets, closes and
wynds, and erecting modern buildings for the purposes of trade.

In this way have many historic buildings disappeared, even to
their foundation stones, and in their place have risen food, raiment
and whiskey shops, as well as more modern dwellings.

REMINISCENCES.

As I have walked over these localities and viewed again the
places and scenes familiar to me in the days of my student career,
even though my antiquarian spirit is feeble, it has been aroused
at the desecration I have witnessed.

The high and ancient houses of the past have largely disap-
peared, and I cannot now get nearer the clouds than ten stories,
and even this elevation can only occasionally be attained, in con-
sequence of the levelling process now so familiar to the eye. At
one thing I am rejoiced, and that is, that while the hands of man
may destroy the works of man, the enduring hills and rocks in and
around Edinburgh, to which I have called your attention, are not
likely ever to be disturbed, except by the same Power that called
them into existence and gave them their great and picturesque
elevation above the earth's surface.

I look in vain for some of the houses in which, far up between
the street and the clouds, I practically commenced my profession,
when for long hours of the night I have on more than one occasion
remained in rooms entirely destitute of bed, bedding or chairs,
with " a farthing dip " stuck to the mantelpiece or the floor, my
easy-chair a candle-box, or something like it, and on one occasion

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 291

a stone from the chimney, the more luxurious seat first mentioned
being furnished by some of the more affluent neighbors, who, if not
possessed of much of this world's goods, had kind hearts and looked
well after the comforts of " the doctor." A little loose straw in
the corner answered the purpose of a bed for my patients. Even
here, had I desired it, I could have obtained, I have no doubt,
from a broken bottle or broken cup, " a drop of whiskey to keep
me warm," or, had I been a smoker, a whiff of tobacco to comfort
me : hence the straw, the candle-box and the stone. Yet in these
very rooms, centuries before, great men had lived in luxury, and
notable men had probably first seen the light of day. But I am
digressing — or, like the old soldier, fighting my battles over again.

To return to my subject, we have in and about Edinburgh a
most picturesque blending of bold and elevated (almost mountain-
ous) scenery with that which is quiet, cultivated and beautiful,
producing an effect which I think can hardly be surpassed the
world over. While this remark is applicable to its physical
geography, we have in the varied structures which constitute the
city — its houses, public buildings, church edifices, numerous monu-
ments, broad and narrow streets and wynds — a contrast scarcely
less striking, suggesting at the same moment memories of the long
past, and everything that is progressive and beautiful connected
with refinement, art and education of the present.

Built as the city is on the hills above and in the valleys beneath,
this contrast between the architectural past and present is the more
striking and is a feature of which the eye never wearies. No
stranger should ever visit Edinburgh without viewing it at night,
as a whole, from some of its commanding heights such as the
Castle, Calton Hill, or, if the breath be good and the muscles
strong, from Arthur's Seat, from whence he will obtain a bird's-
eye view of Leith (which is now continuous with Edinburgh), the
old and the new city, from centre to circumference, here elevated,
there depressed; in one locality displaying, between two straight
lines of light, long and broad streets, in another the crescentic
arrangements of the residences of the wealthy, while in a third the
narrow outlines of the wynds and closes may be occasionally recog-
nized by their very darkness. I can scarcely imagine anything
more beautiful than Edinburgh by gas-light, seen as I have not
unfrequently beheld it from one or two of these great central out-
looks.

It would take a volume to describe this capital architecturally,
a city (Leith included) of only 250,000 inhabitants, and as I have
neither the time nor the practical knowledge to enable me to deal
with this matter, I shall pass on to the consideration of some other
subjects in which I presume your readers will be equally, if not
more, interested.

{To he continued.)

292 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

For the Christian Messenger.

13 Salisbury Place, Newington, Edinburgh,

January 16th, 1872.
My Dear Editor, —

EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES.

Edinburgh partakes only to a limited extent of the advantages
to be derived from the general educational, or parish, system of
the country, which may be described in few words.

It is sustained by the " Heritors," or landed proprietors, and
by small fees, and the schools connected with the system never
refuse admission to the children of the poor who are unable to pay
the usual small annual charge.

These schools are controlled and managed by the Heritors and
Kirk Sessions — that is to say, by the landed proprietors, and the
ministers and elders of the established Church of Scotland in every
parish.

The instruction imparted is a good plain English education,
but the more advanced boys, if they desire it, receive a rudimentary
knowledge of Mathematics and Latin.

The Bible and the Shorter Catechism are used in all these
schools.

The word " hospital " in this city and throughout Scotland is
used in a different sense from the more common and generally
received definition of the word in America. When it is met with
here, and I am glad to say it is a word in very common use, it
very generally designates an endowed institution for educational
and charitable purposes.

Thus Heriot's, Gillespie's, George Watson's, John Watson's,
The Trades Maidens', Stewart's, The Merchant Maidens', Fettes's,
Donaldson's and other hospitals were founded and generouslv
endowed by wealthv, large-hearted Scotchmen for the reception and
education of boys and girls, under varied regulations, but prin-
cipally for those in indigent circumstances, and the children of
parents who have fallen into adversity through innocent causes.

Thousands upon thousands of children have in this way been
provided — for a period of six or seven years — with comfortable,
healthy and happy homes, educated and sent forth upon the world
under the supervision of those who, as the trustees of the bequests,
provide them on leaving the institution with clothing, books, and
in very many instances with money to the extent of from £20 to
£50 sterling to assist them during their minority or apprentice-
ship; while the more talented and successful pupils are enabled,
by means of hospital-scholarships and bursaries, to obtain a univer-
sity course and a profession.

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 205

Heriot's Hospital, founded in the earlier part of the seven-
teenth century by George Heriot, a jeweller, for " the maintenance,
reliefe, bringing up and education of poore fatherlesse boyes, free-
men's sonnes of the towne of Edinburgh," had on the day I visited
it 126 resident pupils, and forty-six day scholars who were clothed
and fed by the Hospital, but who remained at night with their
parents or friends. They enter from seven to nine years of age,
and are instructed by ten different masters in all the important
branches of a sound English and mathematical education, as well
as in Latin, Greek, French, drawing, music — vocal and instru-
mental— gymnastics and military drill, ere they are sent forth from
its walls to fight the battle of life. This single institution, in
consequence of the judicious management of its funds by com-
petent business men, has now an annual income of about £23,000
stg., which not only maintains the hospital proper, but after more
than a dozen large school buildings have been erected from the
capital, in various parts of the city, is to-day imparting a generous
and a free education to 3,400 poor children of both sexes.

Donaldson's Hospital, one of the most magnificent educational
structures in the country, erected at a cost of £100,000 stg., was
opened twenty or twenty-five years ago for the maintenance and
education of poor boys and girls. I was informed by the servant
who conducted me through the building that there were at that
time receiving instruction in the institution 356 pupils, eighty-six
of whom were deaf and dumb.

The chapel is very large and perhaps the finest I have seen in
any of the public institutions of the country.

The building is beautifully situated, and from the windows in
the rear, close at hand, three other large institutions, similar in
character, are observed. The grounds are extensive, admirably
kept, and the shrubbery beautiful.

The original bequest was £210,000 stg. This Mr. Donaldson
was an Edinburgh printer, and I think I may with propriety add
that he was, among printers, a vara avis — a well-paid printer,
whose subscribers, if he published a newspaper, were honest and
punctual.

Sir William Fette's Hospital, erected at a cost of £150,000 stg.,
" for the education and maintenance of young persons whose
parents have fallen into adversity through innocent causes," is the
only other separate institution of this description that I shall refer
to. Within its walls the same noble work is going on, and pretty
much after the same system, as that described in connection with
the Heriot Hospital, with the exception of the outside Free schools,
which are not supplied either by the Trustees of this or of Donald-
son's institution.

294 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

The Merchants' Company of Edinburgh, a large and wealthy-
corporation, have been engaged for many years past in this same
description of educational work, and the " Merchant Maiden's
Hospital," maintained and managed by them, has provided an
educational home for a large number of girls. But being pos-
sessed with the idea that these institutions, both male and female,
could be turned to better advantage and with their vast endow-
ments confer a much larger amount of good on the children of the
middle and poorer classes if the hospital or monastic system were
abolished, the funds of all, or many, were combined and appro-
priated purely for educational purposes — or, in other words,
applied to sustain a large number of day-schools under first-class
teachers, in which schools a most liberal education would be
imparted at a comparatively cheap rate. With great tact and
business capacity the Merchants' Company worked up this idea,
which soon became popular, the more so from the fact that the
private schools were becoming so expensive that men of moderate
means found it a terrible pecuniary burden to give their children
anything like a superior education.

The governing bodies of several of these hospitals co-operated
with the Merchants' Company, and an arrangement was entered
into by which those children " Foundationers," as they are here
called, having a claim on these institutions for maintenance should
now, and in the future, be provided for in the homes of relatives and
friends, where practicable, or under the roofs of respectable fam-
ilies who would treat them as their own children. The basis of
agreement between the company in question and the hospital
trustees having been arranged, an Act of Parliament was sought
and obtained, and the schools under the new arrangement went
into operation some eighteen months since, and thus far have quite
realized the anticipations of their friends and, as far as I can
ascertain, are meeting with the approval of the inhabitants of the
city and surrounding country generally.

The somewhat formidable opposition of the teaching profession
has been materially neutralized by drafting into the new schools
many of its ablest members who were formerly interested in private
institutions.

The Act of Parliament to which I have referred does not con-
fine the trust and management of these schools to those who for-
merly, held control, but the new Board is drawn from the Mer-
chants' Company, the Town Council and the learned professions.
A more competent and better qualified commission could hardly
have been arranged, combining, as it does, thorough business
capacity with high educational attainments.

The benefits arising from these new educational establishments

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 295

are not confined by any means to the citizens of Edinburgh, for
there is hardly a town in Scotland not now represented in them,
and I may add that England also has numbers of young people
receiving instruction in these schools. In visiting one of them a
few days since, the head master informed me that the institution
under his charge had pupils from the districts as far north as the
Shetland Islands, and, in an opposite direction, as far south as the
Channel Islands. Indeed, very many families have moved into
Edinburgh from a distance purposely to take advantage of the
schools in question. The highest charge for the more advanced
classes is ten pounds sterling per annum, and for the junior classes
two pounds ten shillings — and the parents rejoice in the fact that
these amounts cover everything — there are no extras. In all these
schools a very thorough English and mathematical education is
imparted. Natural philosophy, geology and other branches of
natural science, Latin, Greek, French, German, music (both vocal
and instrumental), dancing, and in the female schools sewing, are
taught by the most accomplished masters and teachers. At twelve
years or age. or thereabouts, the boys or their parents generally
intimate the branches to which they desire special attention to be
given, and if they are intended for mercantile life they generally
devote more time to the modern than the dead languages, and pur-
sue that course of study better qualified to fit them for commercial
pursuits ; while those who are intending to adopt professions give
their attention to the classics and such other branches as they shall
be called upon to pass an examination in ere they commence the
special work of the professions they have chosen.

In all these endowed schools, as well the Merchants' as those
hospitals which are not yet in any way connected with them,
physical training is not neglected. Brain and muscle alike receive
their due amount of attention and education. Both sexes are
regularly drilled, while the elder boys are taught fencing and gym-
nastics.

The number of schools connected with the Merchants' system
scattered over the city I am not on the moment prepared to state,
but there are to-day receiving instruction within their walls no less
than 4,500 pupils, and I must add that the poor are not excluded,
for in those connected with Gillespie's foundation the fees are
merely nominal, and the children here, as in the out-door schools of
Heriot's Hospital, receive instruction in the ordinary branches of
an English education, with the addition of drill, vocal music and
drawing; while all can compete for money prizes and for admis-
sion free of charge to the higher schools of the company, and the
few who are at the top of the list may secure further pecuniary
advantages in the form of scholarships or bursaries amounting in
all to £400 stg.

296 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKER, M.D.

Thus you see the son of the very poor man may, if he has the
brain and the industry, compete in these Merchants' schools (as
he may indeed in most of the separate hospital schools) with the
sons of the better-off citizens for prizes worth contending for,
which, if obtained, are sure to place the possessor in an admirable
position for future success in whatever department of life he may
be subsequently found.

Through the kindness of Mr. Knox, " the master " or president
of the Merchants' Company, I was permitted to thoroughly inspect
all or as many of these schools as I felt disposed, and to convey to
your readers some idea of their extent, and the manner in which
they are worked, I will, in as few words as possible, describe my
visit to the female school which was organized in the Hopetown
Rooms, Queen Street, in 1870.

On entering the building I was received by a servant in livery,
but could not advance for some minutes, as the three staircases and
the halls were fully occupied by the young ladies, who, to martial
music — heard all over the house — in companies of forty, each
headed by a governess, were marching two and two in all direc-
tions, vacating one set of classrooms and entering others.

This grand parade being over for an hour, the head master's
office was reached, and that gentleman most kindly kept me con-
tinuously occupied for an hour and a half, during which I had a
second time to be very closely inspected myself by this marching
regiment of 1,250 or 1,260 Scotch and English lassies as they
again changed their classrooms. I learned that the whole school
was educationally classified, and that no class contained more
than forty pupils, all in very nearly the same state of advancement.

Each company had its governess whose duty it was to scru-
tinize the deportment and to keep a general supervision over those
under her charge, which charge commenced as soon as the pupils
entered the house in the morning and terminated only when they
left it in the afternoon. Except to very junior classes all the
instruction is imparted by masters.

The musical arrangements are novel. The whole department
contains forty-five pianos, and in all the classrooms, for this
description of work, save one, there are eight instruments, and
eight young ladies are instructed at one time, and play together
in each room.

I visited two of these rooms, and in both, two of the eight
pianos were silent, in consequence of the absence of pupils ; but
the six who were present, played with the utmost harmony, and
as far as my uneducated ear could detect, there was not an error
of a single note during the time occupied by these two classes
in playing two long and difficult pieces of music. Of course this

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 297

result could not be attained without a very thorough classifica-
tion of pupils, and not without much practice at home — a very
few mistakes will send a young lady from a higher to a lower
class — hence, great efforts are made to retain their positions.

Equal harmony was observable in the department of vocal
music, where I heard the senior class of about sixty young ladies
(from fourteen to twenty years of age) sing together most
exquisitely.

The drawing and writing classes were at work in large rooms
at the top of the building, in which two or more classes were
being instructed at the same time.

The drill, play, dancing and sewing rooms on the first floor
are large and high, and connected by folding doors, so that they
can readily be converted into one room, as is the case once a
week when Mr. Pryde, the principal, delivers a lecture to six
hundred of the more advanced pupils on some subject connected
with English Literature. In the basement is a large luncheon
hall, where for a penny the pupils can purchase a bun and a
cup of milk or coffee. Here also are the cloak and bonnet rooms —
one for each class of forty pupils — in which each young lady
has her own hook and box, numbered, where bonnets, cloaks and
boots are carefully placed in the morning, as they enter, and
taken again in the afternoon, as they leave the building. Com-
fortable slippers take the place of walking boots, which change
assists in effecting three important results, cleanliness, quietness
and the health of the scholars. These toilet arrangements take
place under the supervision of the class governesses — with the
same order which pervades the whole institution. The numbers
are so large that in almost all the departments there are several
teachers, who are well paid. The lowest salary paid to any of
the masters is £210 stg. The principal, I was informed, is in
the receipt of £600 stg. per annum. His duties are purely execu-
tive, and all the teaching he performs is the weekly lecture above
mentioned. The governesses receive from £25 to £90 stg. The
number of teachers and governesses combined amounts to ninety.

It is unnecessary that I should take you through the Merchant
Company's male schools, which are conducted on the same general
principles, with the adoption of such modifications as circum-
stances, sex, and future occupation will naturally suggest to
your readers. One of the most important, is now accomplishing
its work in the old Merchant Maidens' Institution, where from
1,000 to 1,100 boys are receiving a very thorough education.

(To he continued.)

298 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

For the Christian Messenger.

13 Salisbury Place, ISTewington,

Edinburgh, January 16th, 1872.
My Dear Editor:

The University of Edinburgh.

This fine old school, founded in 1582, is still pursuing its
course; extending its bounds; and more than retaining its former
position as the headquarters or centre for the higher education
in Scotland.

This year, under thirty-six Professors, between 1,700 and
1,800 matriculated students are receiving instruction in the depart-
ments of Literature and Philosophy, Theology, Law and Medicine
— and I am informed by the officials in the Secretary's office,
that when the matriculation for the summer session is closed,
this year's roll will probably reach 1,850.

The number of medical students is larger than for many years
past — over 700 — a very large majority of these young men belong
to the British Isles, but all quarters of the globe are well repre-
sented. Under the first division (Literature and Philosophy) there
are fourteen Professors teaching the following subjects : — I. Latin.
II. Greek. III. Mathematics. IV. Logic and Metaphysics.
V. Moral Philosophy. VI. Natural Philosophy. VII. Rhetoric
and English Literature. VIII. Practical Astromony. IX. Agri-
culture. X. Sanskrit and Comparative Philology. XL Theory
of Music. XII. Engineering and Mechanical Drawing.
XIII. Geology and Mineralogy. XIV. Commercial and Political
Economy and Mercantile Law.

I have enumerated the subjects in this division, some of which
would hardly be recognized elsewhere as belonging either to
Literature or Philosophy, to give you an idea of the ground
covered by it. Theology has its four Professors ; Law six, includ-
ing the Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, who is also a teacher
in the medical department — and Medicine twelve (exclusive of
the chair of Medical Jurisprudence). Two of these thirty-six
Chairs have been quite recently founded and liberally endowed :
that of Geology and Mineralogy by the late Sir Roderick
Murchison, and the Chair of Commercial and Political Economy
and Mercantile Law, by the Merchants' Company of Edinburgh,
who, as you will have learned from an, earlier part of this letter,
are by their liberality, and the great interest they are taking in
the subject of education, setting a bright and admirable example to
the mercantile profession of the world.

In the medical department but one of the Professors still
fills a chair in the University who occupied that position

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 299

when I graduated in 1845, and he, Sir Kobert Christison, Bart,
is about to be entertained at a great banquet to be given by the
profession of Edinburgh, and the whole country, on the occasion of
the fiftieth anniversary of his appointment to the position. New
men sit in the places of the great and honored dead, but they
are laborers admirably equipped for the work; and certainly
the thoroughness of the course of instruction imparted, and the
facilities afforded for acquiring both a practical and theoretical
knowledge of the profession can hardly, I think, be surpassed.
The largest Infirmary contains between six and seven hundred
beds, divided into surgical and medical departments in which are
wards set apart for the treatment of special diseases, as of the
eye, etc., etc. Connected with this Infirmary and under the
same management is a large Convalescent Hospital, built and to
some extent endowed by the bequest of a single individual, situated
three miles from the city in a beautiful and healthy locality,
to which patients are sent when it is found they require change
of air and scene to finally restore them to health.

The Infirmary for sick children is very pleasantly situated
and well managed, and receives to its wards a class of poor
children who could not be treated successfully at their own homes ;
but here obtain the same professional care, generous diet, kind
attention and nursing that they would receive were they the off-
spring of wealthy parents dwelling in luxurious homes.

This institution affords an admirable opportunity for students
to practically study the diseases of children. One of the neatest
and best constructed Infirmaries I have seen, is called after its
founder, Chalmers, a plumber, who died some years since leaving
a sum of money to erect and endow a small hospital for the treat-
ment, I believe, of the more respectable poor. I mention it, as
rather an unusual circumstance attracted my attention when I
visited it. The physician who accompanied me to the building,
one of the staff, treated, I observed, one of the nurses as if she
were socially his equal. I was struck with her appearance and
address, and shortly after learned from my friend that she was
the daughter of a lord, who had left all the comforts of a rich
and elegant home to take a nurse's position in a male ward of
this institution — a very unusual thing in this country, but I have
seen wealthy and accomplished ladies connected with a kind of
Protestant Episcopal sisterhood, performing the same duty in
St. Luke's Hospital, New York.

The managers of the present Royal Infirmary have purchased
a large piece of ground in a very eligible locality, and are
about to commence at once the construction of one of the finest
hospitals in Great Britain or any other country. The architect's
plans have been long under consideration, and are now completed,

300 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKER, M.D.

but so extensive is the work that it will take five years to finish
and equip it for the reception of patients.

With a national spirit and from the best of motives, these
gentlemen have determined that the new Edinburgh Infirmary
shall contain everything that the most advanced physicians, sur-
geons and specialists can desire. To those who in future years
shall obtain their medical education here, as to the sick who shall
be treated therein, this institution will be a great boon, and will
aid in giving still further importance to the Edinburgh Medical
School, and in swelling its already plethoric classes.

Large as is the old Quadrangular University (its two sides
measuring each 360 feet and its ends 255 feet; one of its rooms,
the principal library, being 200 feet long by 50 broad), immedi-
ately in its rear, and connected with it by an arched, glass-covered
corridor — crossing West College Street — is a still larger structure,
the great Museum of Natural History, Science and Art. This
building, now nearly finished, will have the greatest capacity
of any public building in Scotland, its height being ninety feet,
its length 400 feet, and its breadth 200 feet. I cannot commence
to describe it architecturally, or to give you a detailed account
of its objects. Suffice it to say that in addition to the instruction,
it, like other Museums, imparts on the varied subjects connected
with Natural History, this institution is intended to illustrate
Mechanical and Chemical Science, and the industrial arts, as
applicable to the principal manufactures of the country; and
when practicable to exhibit the machinery and appliances used
in the production of these manufactures. Thus, as an example
from among the metals, a piece of crude iron ore is placed before
you, as it is taken from the bowels of the earth, and you are shown
the varied changes it undergoes until, as steel, it is converted
into the polished needle, the finest cutlery or the most approved
and deadly firearms used in modern warfare. So in the manu-
facture of glass — you first see the sand and other raw material,
and follow these through their varied changes until the most per-
fect bottle and the finest glass ornaments are brought under
supervision. In the manufacture of silk, cotton, linen and wool,
you first see the changes in animal life which precede the coming
of the silkworm. Then you have exhibited casts of the internal
economy of this animal, with the glands which secrete or form
the raw material. You have the cotton seed and plant, the hemp
seed and plant in various stages of development, and every variety
of wool ; then follow in regular order the many changes which
occur until at length the many beautiful and useful fabrics of
commerce are evolved.

You can then witness the changes effected by chemical agency,
on all descriptions of animal and vegetable food, from the raw

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 301

state until you observe it in that condition in which it is found
best adapted for conversion into healthy blood. If you wish to
study the mode by which the engineer constructs vast bridges
of stone or iron, the whole process is before you ; or, if you desire
to know how and by what mechanical and engineering appli-
ances he rears far away from the shore on some partially sea-
covered rock, a great stone lighthouse that will resist effectually
the force of wind and sea, and serve in the future as a beacon to
warn the mariner of his proximity to danger, you can here study
the whole process from the laying of the foundation layer of
stones in prepared beds of cement until the strong and graceful
structure is at length fitted for the reception of its lamps and
the human beings who are to inhabit it. From the few descriptive
words here written your readers will perhaps be able to form
some idea of the nature and objects of this great educational
institution, the Museum of Science and Art. As an adjunct
to the teaching of several of the chairs in the University, and
as a means of imparting practical knowledge to the students
in attendance thereon, its value cannot be given in words or figures.
A historic interest will always attach to this great structure from
the fact that laying its corner stone, in October, 1861, was the
last public act of Prince Albert, the lamented husband of our
Queen.

It would occupy too much time and space to enlarge on other
educational institutions. The justly celebrated High School of
Edinburgh, which has given to Scotland and Great Britain
many men celebrated in literature, the learned professions, in
the Senate and by deeds of arms, has a history, and is doing a
present work, guided by an able head, keeping abreast of the
times, and of schools of a like character; and well merits a pro-
longed notice, but all I can do is to name it as one of the institu-
tions of the city.

The denominational schools of the United Presbyterians and
of the Free Church of Scotland have here in Edinburgh, as
throughout the country, done a great work, not for these churches
only, but for the people of the land.

The private institution for the care and education of imbecile
children under the charge of my friend Dr. Brodie, situated in
the beautiful old village of Tileston, a mile or two south of where
I am writing, is well worthy the attention of all who take an
interest in this department of labor.

The institutions for the education and training for future use-
fulness of the blind, have long been doing a noble work in
Edinburgh.

I have visited with great interest the Institution for the Deaf
and Dumb in this city. The inspection and the comparison made

302 DANIEL McNEILL paekek, m.d.

between the Edinburgh building and that in which so much
valuable work has been done in Halifax by Mr. Hutton, under
disadvantageous circumstances, makes me more desirous than ever
of seeing a suitable building erected specially for this object in
our own capital.

The last wing of the Insane Asylum at Dartmouth, I am
pleased to hear, is to be commenced forthwith. When that is com-
pleted, the finances of the country being now quite equal to this
small undertaking, I hope soon to see a Provincial Deaf and
Dumb Institution, taking the place of that which in Gottingen
Street, although small and inconvenient, has proved a blessing,
not only to Nova Scotia, but to all the Maritime Provinces.

I had almost forgotten a very important class of educational
institutions — not confined to Edinburgh, but now found pretty
generally scattered over the country. I refer to ragged schools.
Those first commenced in the city by Dr. Guthrie are desig-
nated " the Original Ragged Schools," in contradistinction to others
more recently organized. The Marquis of Lome presided at
the last annual meeting of Guthrie's division of these schools,
in connection with which a few words may interest your readers.

The meeting took place in December in the great music hall in
George Street, and although my family were at the place nearly an
hour before its commencement we had difficulty in getting seats.
The building was densely packed. Some capital music, vocal and
instrumental, was given the audience by some hundreds of little
arabs, and by the band of the Guthrie brigade, and when the time
for the commencement of business had arrived, the latter reminded
the noble chairman that his presence was required by striking up
" The Campbells are coming."

The Marquis is a mere lad in appearance. He has a good
head and a pleasant countenance, and will eventually, I dare say,
make a good public speaker, but as yet he wants confidence and
practice.

Dr. Guthrie's speech was characteristic and amusing. He said
he had promised the Marquis " a bumper house " and the promise
had been fulfilled. In inviting him to take the chair, he, the
Doctor, stated in his letter, that if Her Royal Highness the Princess
would accompany him, it would not only be "a bumper," but that
the house would overflow, even until it reached " the other side
of Jordan." The point of the joke I did not understand until I
was subsequently visiting the Royal Insane Asylum at Morning-
side, when the site of Dr. Guthrie's Jordan was pointed out to me
running close to its southern wall, a " burn " or brook so small
that a foot rule would span it, and two or three inches would
sound its depth. A capital Psedobaptist Jordan! but happily
for our side of the question, there's another somewhere else
broader and deeper. Among the speakers were eminent divines,

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 303

a law lord, a soldier, and others, but this noble old veteran,
wherever he goes, although in feeble health still draws the multi-
tude, and by his eloquence and original Scotch humor carries
along with him, and " brings down the house," as but few living
men can do.

There are several Ragged Schools in the country where the
children are only cared for educationally. In these, Dr. G.
informed us the attendance was most irregular, and the results
unsatisfactory. His mode is to get at their heads and their
hearts through their stomachs, by providing outside scholars,
those who cannot be taken into the reformatories, with warmth,
good porridge and broth, which these poor children cannot get
at their own miserable homes.

He told us of a Ragged School in London which he had recently
visited, in which the children are fed as well as educated, and
I presume, housed and clothed — where 1,200 are now being cared
for by the benevolent contributions of the wealthy who are inter-
ested in this very numerous class of residents of the great capital
of England. This institution has an annual income of £20,000.
stg., and sustains a training ship in the Thames to fit its boys
for seafaring life.

Dr. Guthrie said when he inspected this institution, of which
he had often heard before, he was constrained to address the
managers in the language of the Queen of Sheba on the occasion
of her visit to the court of Solomon, " It was a true report I
heard in mine own land of thy acts and thy wisdom. Howbeit, I
believed not the words until I came, and mine eyes had seen it,
and behold, the half was not told me."

In closing these very general remarks on the educational
institutions of Edinburgh, allow me to say that you are not for a
moment to suppose that an abounding and a continuous liberality
in relation to these objects has been confined to the capital, or
even to the great centres of population and commerce; on the
contrary it has extended itself widely in all directions, and has
produced its results on the character of the whole people.

The population of Scotland to-day is small when compared
with that of the whole country, but small though it is, I am fully
convinced that it is a great element of strength — a strong right
arm to the nation, a liberal conservative element, that in these days
of national restlessness and threatened upheavals of the social and
political structure will be in the future, as now, the firm, fast
friend of order, and of monarchial institutions. And this constitu-
tional and national stability is to be largely attributed to the pulpit
teachings of a doctrinally stable and educated ministry, and to the
general diffusion of a wholesome education among the people of all
classes. It would have done you good to have seen the loyal univer-
sal sympathy exhibited by the whole people of this city, for the

304 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Queen and Royal family during the recent dangerous illness
of the Prince of Wales. There was no cold formality connected
with it. No surface show, but simply the " welling up " from
;he hearts of all classes of the deep feelings called forth by the
trying family and national occasion.

You may perhaps think that because I am half a Scotchman, and
have a " Mac " in my name, I am prejudiced in favor of the land
and its people, but although there is a large admixture of Scotch
blood in my veins, for which I am rather thankful than otherwise,
I still hope I am not so prejudiced but that I can look upon things
as they are and draw fair conclusions. I am not one of those
who think that everything of value in the heavens above and in
the earth beneath is of Scotch origin, as some of the sons of the
heather are apt to conclude. An illustrative case in point comes
to my memory.

Many years ago as I was viewing Rosslyn Chapel — a fine old
Gothic ruin of the fifteenth century, some seven or eight miles from
Edinburgh — my attention was called by the worthy old Scot who
was earning his shilling by detailing its history and describing
its architectural beauties, to certain carved figures on the upper
part of the ruin, which with distended cheeks were engaged in
blowing or playing on some kind of wind instruments. With
great gravity pointing to these objects, he observed: "Yon are
the angels playing on the bagpipes." This was the first intima-
tion I had had that the national musical instrument of Scotland
was of heavenly origin. Personally I rather like the music, but
if such were the fact, I fear there are some even of Scotland's
own children who would almost prefer remaining outside, to
enjoying that sound throughout a future existence.

Correspondents sometimes have a way of concluding their
letters by saying " excuse brevity as the mail is just off." I have
to beg to be excused for want of brevity, but for the abrupt-
ness of my manner of closing must plead that the mail for Halifax
via Queenstown is about being closed in reality.
Ever sincerely yours,

D. McN. Parker.

For the Christian Messenger.

13 Salisbury Place, Newington,

Edinburgh, January 30th, 1872.
My Dear Editor:

Whiskey and its Doings.

Whatever may be said of the bagpipes, there is another
institution of the country which most assuredly is not of
such exalted origin as that claimed by my Rosslyn guide for
this musical instrument; and that institution is whiskev. The

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 305

whole land I fear requires a great reformation as regards the
traffic in this terrible scourge of its people — an evil not by any
means confined to men, but widely disseminated among the poor
women, and even the children of the wynds and closes, and
often, I fear, extending its devastating influence in this fair city
to higher and more fashionable localities than these.

The records of the Infirmaries here exhibit a dark and oft
repeated spot in relation to the habits of many of those who
enter them, seeking relief from organic diseases which have
resulted from long-continued alcoholic stimulation. Shortly after
my arrival, as I accompanied one of my medical friends around
his wards in the Royal Infirmary, I listened to the report of
one of his clerks, which detailed the past history of a diminutive,
unhealthy-looking boy of fourteen years of age, who had been
admitted for the treatment of an incurable disease caused by
the habit of whiskey drinking. The recorded history of the case
stated the fact, that as an infant, his mother had been in the
habit of administering gin or whiskey to quiet him and to pro-
duce sleep. When a little older, and able to speak, he would cry
for, and demand it, and for the past few years, have whiskey he
would, by fair means or foul. I watched the poor little fellow's
case with a good deal of interest until a day or two before Christ-
mas, when on entering the ward I found him dying, and learned
that he had but a few minutes previously received a very gentle
push from the hand of another little patient in an adjoining bed,
and so changed had some of the internal organs become in con-
sequence of his habits, that one of them had been ruptured or
torn by the very slight pressure of his companion's hand. This
case pointedly illustrates the danger of parents administering
stimulants to infants when the necessity for it does not exist,
and without medical advice. It is also very suggestive of the
duty of mothers in relation to their offspring, for as we all know,
there are more ways of administering alcohol to infants than by
means of a bottle or a spoon. On New Year's Day, the scenes of
open drunkenness and dissipation, principally on the High Street
and Canongate, and between the bridges — among men, women
and boys — was a sad, a debasing blot upon the social history of
this beautiful capital of a great country. In the days of classic
history, Greece had its " Athenian State poison," with which the
lives of offenders against the State were destroyed. To the hem-
lock Socrates yielded up his life. The heathen governments of
Greece, however, derived no revenue from its sale, they did not
countenance its use, except for the object just specified; but the
governments of Christian countries, like Great Britain, British
America and the United States, invitingly place their " State
poison " — alcohol — within the reach of every subject, raise

306 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEK, M.D.

annually vast revenues — millions upon millions of pounds — from
the traffic in it, in fact largely live by it, and thus indirectly
encourage men to indulge in its use ; and when under its influence^,
offences against the criminal laws of the land are committed,
these governments inform their unhappy victims that they must
either die or be immured, perhaps for life ; and if the former shall
be their lot, they strangle them with a hempen cord. Bad enough
it is, for governments and legislatures to thus give the counten-
ance of the State to that which like a pestilence " wasteth at
noonday," and is so utterly destructive of the spiritual, moral and
physical condition of those entrusted to their supervision and care ;
but the iniquity of the thing is intensified, when one thinks and
knows that these responsible public bodies stand idly by and see this
State disease — habitual drunkenness — destroying its vast armies
of men, women and children annually, without putting forth the
slightest effort to reclaim or cure, by the aid of Inebriate Institu-
tions, or other appropriate means, those whom they have been
largely instrumental in placing in this pitiable condition. They
(the governments and legislatures) will punish, but they leave
to private philanthrophy, and individual effort, the herculean
work of reclaiming and curing.

Governments, it should be remembered, are composed of indi-
viduals, and there will be an individual account to be rendered
by and by, for the terrible sins of omission and of commission
in reference to this important matter, and that too, before a
higher tribunal than " the bar of public opinion."

The Free Chukch.

In 1843 I witnessed the disruption of the Church of Scotland,
and saw a majority of the 474 seceding ministers walk in proces-
sion, headed by Doctors Chalmers and Welch, from St. Andrews
Church on their way to the Canon mills to organize the Free
Church of Scotland. It was a day of terrible excitement, not
unlike that of which I was also an observer in the city of Charles-
ton, when, in April 1861 the Southern States of America con-
summated their act of Secession, by bombarding Fort Sumter.
Both events were pregnant with great national results; both
stirred to their lowest depths the emotional nature of the millions
who were immediately and practically interested in these two
great upheavals, or Secessions, both were momentous days, never
to be forgotten, even by comparatively disinterested observers.

Well, this heavy brigade of Scotland's Church Artillery
went out that day leaving their all — pecuniarily speaking — behind
them. They had not a church structure in which they could
legally place their feet, and not a manse left into which they could

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 307

enter to obtain rest. But what do we see to-day ? In Edinburgh
alone — exclusive of Leith, Tileston, Corstorphine, and other
towns and villages, so close to the city, and so continuously con-
nected with it as almost to form a part of it, there are thirty-
six to thirty-eight Free Churches, or, approximately, one for
every 5,000 of its inhabitants — erected at an enormous outlay,
and many of them large and elegant buildings. The Barclay
Church, costing £10,000 stg., was erected by money left for that
purpose by a lady bearing that name. The ground alone on which
Free St. George's stands, cost, I am informed, £10,000 stg.

This is Dr. Candlish's Church, and to give you an idea of
how its congregation pours its gold, for denominational and con-
gregational purposes, I may state that its contributions are
annually over £8,000 stg. By referring to a document before
me (the 28th Report of the Public Accounts of the Free Church
of Scotland), I find that last year (1871) the amount was
£8.736. 3s. 5d. stg. Her ministers are now comfortably housed,
in manses or their equivalent; and the most of them are in the
receipt of £150 stg., per annum, from the general Sustentation
Fund of the denomination (a part of the great financial scheme
organized by Dr. Chalmers and others, at the birth of the Free
Church in 1813). The number of clergymen in the receipt of
this equal dividend, of £150, at the present moment, I am unpre-
pared to give you, but by making reference to a paper, read
before the Statistical Society of London, by Dr. Buchannan of
Glasgow, in March, 1870, I find that at the time of meeting of
the General Assembly in 1869, it was 710. During that year,
however, there were other two hundred and two (202) in the
receipt of a smaller amount ; making in all 912 ministers who
were then placed on the fund in question. Of course you will
understand that these " Sustentation Dividends " are separate,
and distinct from the amount raised by each congregation for
the maintenance of its minister.

Without such a fund to fall back on, the poorer congregations
in many country districts of Scotland could not sustain a stated
ministry. Stimulated by the exigencies of the hour the adherents
of the Free Church at its very birth began to pour out their
paper and their gold into the general treasury, as water is poured
from vessel to vessel. To illustrate how deep was the feeling, and
how generously men contributed of their abundance in those
days, I will state a fact which was told me at the time — at the
breakfast table of Dr. Chalmers by a member of his family.
A Divinity Hall or Theological Institution was required to carry
on the work of this new church, and the Rev. Dr. Welch in one
day (if my memory is not at fault) addressed twenty letters
to twenty wealthy individuals who were in sympathy with the

308 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

disruption movement, asking them to contribute £1,000 stg. each
for this object. Promptly nineteen replied in the affirmative,
and the twentieth, if I mistake not, did not refuse, but com-
promised the matter, by reducing his contribution.

From this beginning, three large and fine Theological Colleges
have arisen. The buildings have cost £55,000 stg., one in Edin-
burgh, another in Glasgow, and a third in Aberdeen. And they
are endowed to the extent of over £70,000 stg., over and above
the interest accruing from this endowment, and about £1,000 stg.
received from students' fees. Three thousand pounds are annually
required to efficiently maintain the three institutions, and this
balance is fully and cheerfully supplied by systematic collections
taken up in all the churches of the body throughout the land.
In these three Colleges there are thirteen Professors, and
the number of Theological students in attendance in 1869 was
241. A large Assembly Hall for the meeting of the General
Assembly has been erected in Edinburgh by private contributions.
From the date of the disruption in 1843 to 1869, this new
denomination had built 920 churches, and laid out for this pur-
pose £1,015,375 ; 719 manses, expending therefor £467,350 ;
elementary schools, 597, at an outlay of £185,000. Besides these
elementary school buildings, and the education which has been
carried on in them at an enormous local and general expenditure^
the church has also erected and maintains two large and flourishing
Normal Schools, for the training of teachers — at which in 1869,
there were in attendance 1,645 scholars and 252 students.

One of my medical friends here informed me a short time
since, that in the early days of the Free Church, his father went
out to collect money with which they might organize an elementary
school system, and did not stay his hand until he had collected
£60,000 stg. They struck while the iron was hot.

From Dr. Buchannan's general abstract showing the aggregate
amount of funds raised for all purposes during the twenty-six
years from the Disruption to 1868-'69 inclusive, I give you the
following figures :

Building funds (General) £355,452

Building funds (Total) 1,312,272

Sustentation supplementary for aged and infirm ministers 2,792,587

Congregational 2,376,095

Education 367,946

Colleges 211,888

Missions, including Lowland and Highland, Colonial, European,

Foreign and Jews 982,935

General trustees and miscellaneous 88,595

Total ( Sterling) £8,487,774

I have already shown you how Scotchmen have been educated
in the common acceptation of that word. From these financial

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 309

statements (drawn from the able and exhaustive statistical paper
already referred to) you will glean — notwithstanding a general
impression to the contrary — that they have also been specially
educated to give to objects worthy of their benevolence.

I have dwelt on this matter of the commencement and growth
of the Free Church of Scotland, in a comparatively poor and not
densely populated country, for the benefit of the Baptists of the
Maritime Provinces, who have churches and parsonages to build,
ministers to educate and support, a College and educational
institutions to sustain and endow, to show them what a well
organized system faithfully and conscientiously carried out can
accomplish, and in the hope that this Scottish epidemic — for it is
general, and not confined to one denomination — may spread, and
attack our churches ; that, with such facts and figures as these,
and with the history of the commencement and growth of the
United Presbyterian body in Scotland, and the Wesleyan Methodist
Church in England before them, the Political Disruptionists in the
Lords and Commons have an argument both potent and practical,
in addition to those which have so long been wielded by Non-
conformists in the discussion of the subject of Church and State.

Union of Churches.

The hostile feeling of the days of my former sojourn in
Edinburgh, between the Establishment and the Free Church —
and a very bitter feeling it was, in those days — is now no more;
and I may say that I have not, since my return to Scotland,
heard an uncharitable expression fall from the lips of either party.
I have heard these old church militants fight their battles over
again, but in a far different spirit from that which characterized
the days that are gone.

The contemplated union between the United Presbyterian
and the Free Churches of Scotland, which has already been con-
summated in our Provinces, is a matter of certainty here in a
not far distant future. A few old and strong men, iniluentially,
stand in the way, but the feeling in favor of Confederation is
growing. As an outsider, I can see nothing to keep them apart,
and I dare say the day is not very far distant when these two
bodies will again gravitate to and coalesce with the old establish-
ment, when establishments in this country shall be a thing of
the past ; and the political prophets are not few who fix upon no
lengthened period for the termination of the work, which, having
commenced in Ireland they say will ere long place all denomina-
tions in England and Scotland on an equal footing in their rela-
tions to the State. On this question, Nonconformists in Great
Britain are speaking in general terms, as a unit, and there are

310 DANIEL McNEILL pakkee, m.d.

not a few adherents of both establishments who are in sympathy
with them. If, however, I can read the signs of the times from
this Scottish centre of public opinion, the battle will be a hard-
fought, and not by any means a short one, but considering the
age in which we live, and the principles at stake, the views pre-
vailing over the entire country of North America, on State religion,
must eventually be the dominating views of the British Isles.

The Baptist denomination in Scotland is comparatively speak-
ing a very small body, but small though it is, it has increased
slowly and surely since I was last a resident of the country, and
that increase is not numerical alone, but one of influence and
wealth as well. Contrasted, however, with the great Presbyterian
bodies they are but " as a drop in the bucket." The churches
number from eighty to ninety, several of which are known as
" Scotch Baptists," who have no stated ministry, but believe in
the " Lay Element " doing both lay and ministerial work, but
in other respects in practice and doctrine are the same as the
great body of Baptists in America.

In Edinburgh (including Leith, where there is one) there
are five churches. One of these supports two pastors, and raises
annually over £1,500 stg. for congregational and denominational
objects. In Glasgow there are four. The remainder are scattered
singly over the country, principally in the north. Contrary to
my expectation, I find that nearly all practice close communion.
Nine or ten of the pastors are young men, equipped for the work
at the College in connection with Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle
Church in London. A majority of these churches, fifty-four in
all, have been recently organized into what is called the " Baptist
Union for Scotland," the constitution of which is not unlike that
of our Convention, but its objects are different. This Union deals
with the subjects of Home Missions in Scotland ; it aids weak
churches in maintaining the ordinances of the gospel; it assists
in originating new churches in the larger towns ; it does the work
of a Ministerial Education Society by assisting young men of
" assured piety and talent in preparing for the Christian min-
istry," and by, supporting a Tutor (the Rev. Dr. Patterson) who
in winter assists these young men in their Arts Course at the
University of Edinburgh, and in summer gives them Theological
instruction ; it annually gathers the statistics of the denomina-
tion in Scotland, and finally it is intended to cultivate the brotherly
and social element among the different churches which have not
hitherto been associated. This is a brief synopsis of its objects.
The Union supported in 1871 eighteen missionaries, who labored
principally in the Highlands and on the isles of the north coast
of Scotland, but in this work it is materially assisted by English
contributions.

(To be continued.)

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 311

For the Christian Messenger.

13 Salisbury Place, Newington,

Edinburgh, January 30th, 1872.
My Dear Editor:

The Baptist Union for Scotland.

In November last, the third Annual Meeting of this Associa-
tion was held in Glasgow, and as I was desirous of seeing and
hearing the representative men of the churches, and of learning
something of their denominational operations, I spent a day and
a half with them — an unknown observer of their proceedings —
and must say, that I was highly gratified with the Christian spirit,
the business capacity and the speaking talent of the brethren
(clerical and lay) who took part in the proceedings. The
Association was presided over by Mr. Bowser — a Glasgow mer-
chant— who opened the meeting with an admirable address. The
attendance at all the business and social meetings was large. While
for the most part the same rules govern the Union that prevail
at our Conventions, their system is more thorough, and although
the meeting is open, and all delegates have full liberty to give
expression to their views on every subject, but few men speak —
generally only the movers and seconders of resolutions — but they
come prepared, and their addresses are able and exhaustive. The
real work of the Union is performed by large and influential
committees, previous to the opening of the session, who submit
the result of their deliberations in well-matured resolutions, and
select the men who are to speak to them, giving them time to
prepare for the occasion. Financial subjects were for the most
part dealt with by mercantile and legal men, who, in this country,
throw themselves into denominational work with their whole
hearts. I only wish a similar activity and spirit could be infused
into the business men of the denomination in the Maritime
Provinces.

Mr. Newman, the assistant minister of the Dublin Street
Church of this city, in speaking to the resolution relating to
Home Missions, delivered an admirable address in which he
dealt largely with the past history of this missionary organization.
He said : " In perusing the records I find (and I have not been
particular in the selection) that there are five of our missionaries
whose combined ages amount to 420 years, and whose united
labors in connection with the society would spread over a period
of 227 years; giving to each one an average of forty-five years of
real missionary work. Of one it is reported that he traversed the
marshy moors of Lewis with his shoes and stockings tied to his
back or slung on his umbrella ; of another, that after walking
across hills and moors forty miles, and preaching twice, he lay

312 DANIEL McNEILL PABKEK, M.D.

down at night upon some straw in the corner of the room after
having partaken of some potatoes and salt." These interesting
old records state the fact that these simple-hearted, earnest men
" lived on bread and tea, sometimes a little butter to it, for break-
fast; potatoes, and occasionally some fish for dinner; as for
butcher's meat, it was a luxury they could not afford, and they
scarcely saw it. One had a parish sixty miles long and forty miles
broad. Much of their missionary work was performed on the
islands of the far north, where they had to face the dangers
of the sea at all seasons in open boats."

As this speech was delivered, and the extracts from the records
detailed, I could not but compare the character and labors of
these servants of God with those of the Baptist pioneers in
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick — the Mannings ; the Hardings ;
the Dimocks and others. Missionary longevity has been and still
is a remarkable feature of this field of labor. It is not, we are
told, an uncommon thing to find men of more than eighty years
— and occasionally ninety — still vigorous and hard at work. This
speaks volumes for the bracing air of the Highlands, and the sea
breezes of the islands in the far north, as also for abundance of
exercise, simple habits and diet. Mr. Newman is an Englishman,
hence his neglect of porridge and brose, which do not appear in his
missionary diet list — but potatoes and salt, with an occasional
herring, and bread and tea, have certainly risen in my estimation
since my visit to Glasgow, and doubtless men of my profession
would have less to do if others than missionaries were to " go, and
do likewise." As at our Conventions and Associations, provision
is made to entertain ministers and delegates at the residences of
members of the churches and congregations. A capital dinner
was partaken of by a large number of the members of the Union
in a very commodious vestry in the rear of the church in which
the session was being held — having connected with it a kitchen,
cooking apparatus, and all the necessary appliances for such an
occasion. This social entertainment was provided at the expense
of all the Glasgow churches. Speeches were made, and good ones
too — under the stimulating influence of coffee — but they were
nearly all of a business nature. In short, this dinner was in
reality an adjourned meeting of the Union. I have found out
since my arrival here that Scotch business men — as well as our
American neighbors — thoroughly understand, both in theory and
practice, the meaning of the saying " time is money."

I returned from this meeting by an express night train — a
distance of forty miles, without a stoppage, in an hour and a
quarter, greatly gratified, and amply repaid for having relin-
quished the lecture room and the hospital wards for a couple of
days on a denominational excursion. I have already intimated

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 313

that Baptist sentiments do not grow with rapidity in Presby-
terian Scotland, but, as with us in Nova Scotia, when the dividing
questions — of much or little water; the subjects to whom it is to
be applied ; and the difference in church government — are re-
moved, they find that Scotch men and women make most stable and
hard-working Baptists. The foundation is generally well laid in
pulpit and home teaching, assisted doubtless to some extent by the
course pursued in the Public and Private Schools, in which,
for the most part, the Bible is read, and the Shorter Catechism
committed to memory and explained. In the Private Schools
to which my children go this Catechism is learned by all the pupils
whose parents do not object to it, and inasmuch as, when dealing
with the subject of Baptism, there are quoted in full the following
passages of Scripture, Matt. 28: 19; Acts 2: 38 and 41: Rom.
6: 3, 4; Gen. 17: 7 and 10, I imagine Baptist parents very rarely
take exception to it. Referring to the quotation from Genesis
above mentioned, I am reminded of a very professional answer —
rather too Jenner-ic, however, for the occasion — which was given
a few days since by an advanced young lady in reply to the follow-
ing question, " What ordinance has taken the place of the covenant
of circumcision?" " Vaccination!" was the prompt reply. It is
hardly necessary to add that mistress and school were alike con-
vulsed, and that exception was taken to this doctrinal teaching, and
when an hour or two afterwards my children related the circum-
stance. I fear my risible faculties were also overcome.

A few such replies as this would help to influence " the find-
ing " of the Royal Commission which recently investigated the
results of the religious training in the public schools of Scotland
and reported against it as most unsatisfactory. In this connection,
from the speech of Mr. Fordyce, M.P., recently made in Aberdeen-
shire, at a social Free Church meeting, I quote the following para-
graphs :

" The Commissioners who examined into the state of Scotch
education found conclusively that it fails to communicate dog-
matic or doctrinal instruction or the facts of the Bible in such a
way as to be worth the name of a religious system." And again,
" The Royal Commissioners, in the late Scotch enquiry, expressed
themselves as filled with amazement at the state of Biblical ignor-
ance in which they found the children at school."

I must say the very strong language contained in the above
sentences surprised me, but if this was a thorough investigation —
as I presume, from the importance of the subject, it must have
been — it only tends to confirm my preconceived opinions as to-
the necessity of making home. Sabbath-school and pulpit instruc-
tion the main agencies for grounding children in Biblical knowl-
edge. In America it is very generally believed that the intelligent

314 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

knowledge of the Bible and the general state of morality existing
among the Scotch people — especially in the country districts — has
its origin in the parish school system. The report of this Royal
Commission will do more than throw doubt upon this opinion, and
will tend materially to strengthen the views, so strongly expressed
by Hugh Miller (than whom no man was better able to speak with
authority), who, in adopting the ideas of practical and competent
observers before his day, said, in effect, that the moral sentiment
and thoughtful tone of the people resulted from the teaching of the
national pulpits — not from the schools. In former years Sabbath-
schools were not resorted to in this city or country by the children
of the higher and middle classes, but, I am glad to say, there is a
change taking place, and all classes are waking up to the import-
ance of this institution. The poor wandering Arabs of the streets
and lanes have long been looked after, and in this way have had
the gospel preached unto them, but the result of my enquiries has
led me to the conclusion that, both in the United States and the
Dominion, Sunday-schools exert a more widespread influence than
they do in Scotland.

The Royal Institution for the exhibition of paintings and the
Antiquarian Museum, closely approximated as regards locality,
are extensive and costly Grecian structures, subserving the pur-
poses indicated by their names — the cultivation of a taste for the
fine arts and antiquarian science.

Many of the paintings in the former are of great and increasing
value. A single fact stated in my hearing in his speech at the
annual dinner of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians
quite recently by Sir George Harvey, the President of the Royal
Scottish Academy, will give you an idea of the native talent of
some Scotch artists and the price their works command. The
Association in quite recent times bought an oil painting from one
of the members of the Royal Academy for exhibition in their insti-
tution, paying less than £1,000 for it.» A short time since an
English dealer offered them £2,500 stg. for the picture, and the
offer was declined. Should it rise in value in the future as it has
done in the past, a century hence it will take a long purse to remove
it from the walls of the Royal Institution. More valuable in the
eyes of many is the great collection in the Antiquarian Museum.
Both, in their own way, are doing an educational work for Scot-
land.

The Botanical Gardens, to which, during the summer of 1843,
I was obliged to hasten a distance of nearly three miles from my
lodging in the mornings before breakfast, to attend the course of
lectures there delivered to medical and other students, have been
extended and vastly improved since the days of my student life.
The various descriptions of plants are arranged in their proper

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 315

order, so that the student finds all the species of each genus taste-
fully grouped together. The garden is not very large, being less
than thirty acres, but one can hardly conceive it possible to have
such an institution more perfectly arranged and ornamented. Its
palm house, one of the largest and finest in Great Britain, is
seventy feet high, and is literally filled to the glass roof with these
immense plants and their magnificent foliage, so that as we walked
along the narrow pathway, or cast-iron gallery, which at the
point of junction of the stone and iron body with the glass roof
encircles the largest building, and looked down upon the scene
beneath, it was beautiful, and carried one in thought to the jungles
of far-off India and to the banks of the Amazon. All that it
wanted to complete and make perfect the tropical scene was the
gay plumage of its birds, with here and there a specimen of its
larger and more formidable animal life.

I have visited the Royal Asylum for the Insane at Morning-
side, with great satisfaction. It is large, and with recent additions
accommodates comfortably seven or eight hundred patients from
the different ranks of society.

Many having superior accommodation pay from £200 to
£300 stg. annually.

It is pleasantly situated, with the Blackford, Braid and Pent-
land Hills in its immediate neighborhood, but it wants what it
can never have, water scenery to perfect the view. So rapidly is
Edinburgh spreading itself out that the city is close upon it and
will soon completely surround its grounds, making a change of
locality desirable, if not essential.

It is one of the oldest institutions in the country, and as regards
the site, plan of the buildings, and some of its internal arrange-
ments is inferior to* the Mount Hope institution at Dartmouth, the
front view from which would of itself, if it could be imported here,
add, I feel assured, to its percentage of cures.

Pianos abounded. In one of the large female wards I notice!
three large first-class instruments. It had a fine, large billiard-
room, thoroughly lighted, warmed and ventilated, croquet and
bowling greens, with several high stone-walled exercising grounds,
which, in reference both to the health and safety of the patients,
should, in all such institutions, be considered a sine qua non.
Without these safeguards escapes must be constantly occurring,
and the anxieties and cares of the medical and other officers —
always sufficiently large without this unnecessary addition — must
be greatly enhanced.

This has heretofore been an out-door want of our Dartmouth
Hospital, and while I am greatly gratified to learn that the govern-
ment is in a position to complete its last wing during the present

316 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

year, I hope, should I be spared to return, to see two such stone-
walled exercising grounds as those I am now remarking upon.

The gentleman, a member of the board of management, who
accompanied me on my visit, showed me the things without as
well as those within. On the farm connected with the Asylum is a
large piggery, containing something like one hundred of the finest
animals I have seen. A sale of a number of these pigs had just
been concluded at an average price of £10 stg. each.

(To he continued.)

For the Christian Messenger.

13 Salisbury Place, Newington, Edinburgh,
January 30th, 1872.
My Dear Editor:

The charitable institutions which I have not yet found time tc
visit are many, and among them is the very large and beautifully
situated Poor House for the City of Edinburgh, on the eastern
slope of the Pentlands, about a mile beyond the Royal Asylum.
I hope shortly to see something more than its handsome exterior,
to get an insight into its management, that I may be enabled to
compare it with our own in Halifax and those I have elsewhere
visited.

As I returned to the city my friend pointed out a Scottish relic
of bygone days, the " Bore Stone," in which James IV. planted his
standard in 1513, and in the neighborhood of which he marshalled
his forces before setting out for the fatal field of Flodden. This
large piece of red sandstone, with its standard hole, still deeply
marked, is embedded in the wall of the street, close by the Parish
Church, as is also the iron plate beneath it Which records its history.

I have mentioned this " Bore Stone " with some degree of hesi-
tation, fearing lest it may perchance meet the eye of that enter-
prising class of practical geologists from the neighboring Union
(so graphically described by Mark Twain) who, as travellers, go
about the world with geological hammers in their pockets, collecting
specimens for their private museums from every stone or statue
that by the generality of man is looked upon as historic and sacred.
However, should such a breach of antiquarian law and Scottish
usage ever occur in connection with this exposed and unprotected
stone, one thing I may say, the Lord Provost's hammer would
with almost unerring certainty fall, and that heavily, on the head
of the offenders, for in Scotland, in reference to national relics,
and all historic material, every Scotchman is both a detective
and a policeman.

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 317

DOCTOR CHALMERS.

In this part of Edinburgh, Momingside, is an object of more
recent date, but no doubt of far more interest to the people of
Scotland than that to which I have just called attention: the
house in which were spent the last years of one of " Nature's
noblemen," a man born to reign over, and sway by a superior and
highly cultivated intellect, the minds, not of the masses only — in
the ordinary acceptation of that term — but the intellectual masses
as well, throughout the entire land. I refer to Dr. Chalmers, the
simple-hearted Christian, and in his day the greatest of Scottish
preachers — an orator born.

I never saw him but on two occasions, both in this house, for
at that time (1844) he had in consequence of impaired health
retired from the active duties of the ministry and was engaged
in perfecting the financial and other vast schemes connected with
the Free Church of Scotland, of which he was the moving, organ-
izing spirit, the great human head.

His mental endowments, as well as his Christian and general
character, have long been familiar to your readers as to the whole
Christian world. It would therefore be more than superfluous
for me to occupy your space in giving a boy's impressions of the
man; but this I may perhaps be permitted to say, that nothing
in or about him struck me more than the simple, warm-hearted,
genial nature of the man, and the great readiness with which the
Leviathan could unbend himself to gather from one so young some
crumbs of knowledge connected with certain natural phenomena
existing in Xova Scotia. When speaking of the tidal flow of the
Bay of Fundy, his whole countenance depicted the interest he
took in the subject, and demonstrated the fact that one of his
ruling passions — a love for nature and the sciences connected
therewith — was strong, if not in death, certainly in advanced old
age. _

This house in which he lived and died will, I hope, in the
long years to ccme be carefully preserved as an object of national
interest.

There is another house, however, and more lowly, by which I
have stood with even greater interest, that which now contains all
that is mortal of Thomas Chalmers, and, as if to convey to those
who " view the ground " the character of the man and the sim-
plicity of his nature, the massive, but very plain, piece of sand-
stone which marks the spot has simply engraved upon its sombre
face the two words " Thomas Chalmers."

Immediately adjoining are the graves of three men well known
to science and the Christian public of this country : Hugh Miller,
the geologist ; James Miller, the Professor of Surgery in the Edin-

318 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

burgh University — my teacher and friend of former years — and
Sir Andrew Agnew. The graves of men truly great have always
been objects of interest to living, thinking men, recalling as they
do the history or memories of the past, and often suggesting hopes
for the future. And I imagine this last earthly house of Thomas
Chalmers will be in the far-off years, as it is now, a historic spot,
to be visited by all who are familiar with the land, its history and
its Church.

In this connection the cemeteries of the city, ancient and
modern would seem to demand a word or two. They are numerous,
but small, and that to which reference has already been made,
" The Grange," as indeed are all the others of recent date, is
ornamented with trees and shrubbery and beautifully laid out and
kept.

These contain the remains of many notable men of modern
times. Professor Simpson, the man who for a number of years
filled one of the most important medical chairs in the University,
and who was made a baronet in consequence of his professional
attainments, but perhaps more particularly because of his appli-
cation of chloroform to obstetric and surgical practice, is buried in
the beautiful spot known as Warriston Cemetery. The great dead
of Edinburgh, and of Scotland, in the long past, were interred in
the ancient cemeteries of Grey Friars, St. Cuthbert's, the Canon-
gate, Roselrig, etc. These latter are the oft-frequented haunts of
antiquarian visitors.

So near here are many of these cities of the dead to the busy,
bustling scenes of life and business, that it is an easy transition
to step from the former to the latter (as we know it to be, every-
where, to pass from the latter to the former — from active life and
health to the grave), so perhaps I may be forgiven for abruptly
passing from cemeteries to banks.

The banking institutions of Edinburgh are numerous, the
buildings in general very large, the architectural appearance of
many of them imposing and chaste, their internal arrangement
and fittings magnificent, and last, but not least, their dividends
such as would be likely to make the shareholders of Nova Scotia
banks envious. Thus, the National Bank of Scotland quite
recently declared a dividend of thirteen per cent, and three per
cent, bonus, in all sixteen per cent., while others followed closely
in its wake. A capital investment for original shareholders !
But even these dividends have been largely surpassed by several
London and English banks, which have yielded to their proprietors
as much as twenty and twenty-five per cent, on their paid-up
capital. Edinburgh is neither a commercial nor a manufacturing
city, and at first sight it seems difficult to understand how it sus-
tains so many extensive banking institutions, but it is to be remem-

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 319

bered that Leith, the third, and Granton, the fourth, seaports of
Scotland (in reference to the amount of revenue collected), are
" part and parcel " of the capital, the banks of which, or their
branches, to a great extent do the business of these two seaports.
For its population, it has an enormous retail business, which is
materially increased in consequence of the city being generally
full of visitors ; and so this department of trade, its university
and schools, furnish largely buyers and consumers. Then much
of the banking business of Scotland is centred here. The wealth of
the city is very great, and increasing from without every year, in
consequence of men who have made their fortunes in India, Aus-
tralia, North and South America, and elsewhere, returning in
large numbers to spend their last days in the capital of their
country, where a cultivated society and educational facilities for
their families can be enjoyed to an extent hardly to be equalled,
and certainly not to be surpassed, elsewhere. Literary men, and
those who have retired from the public service of India, the army
and navy, flock hither; and from these varied sources the banks
have their vaults well filled, making the supply almost always
greater than the demand.

My opportunities of seeing the banking institutions of England
have been but limited, but those that I have visited — with the
exception of the Bank of England — are eclipsed, architecturally
speaking, by those of Edinburgh.

Indeed, so critical has the general architectural taste of this
city become that no public body, or private individual, would
think of erecting in any central locality a building for banking,
commercial, religious or benevolent objects, of small size, of defec-
tive proportions, or deficient in architectural beauty, for fear of
doing violence to this long cultivated taste of its inhabitants and
of detracting from the tout ensemble of the modern Athens — hence
we may, with very considerable certainty, conclude that as years
roll on, Auld Reekie in this as in other respects will not decrease
but increase. Bowing to public sentiment in this particular, the
British Government, when, in 1861, it undertook to erect a new
General Post Office, expended on a building for this service alone
£120,000 stg.

Edinburgh has several great publishing and printing firms,
which are scattering over the English-speaking world educational
material and healthy, substantial literature, in happy contrast to
the light and demoralizing trash which in annually increasing
quantity is spreading itself over our continent. On this matter
I may say that there is here a public sentiment which would
speedily crush out or render bankrupt any publishing house that
would engage in a business tending to impair and lower the moral
tone of the community.

320 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

I have carefully inspected the great establishment of Thos.
Nelson & Sons, one of the largest houses of the kind in the world,
having a branch of its business in London and an agency in New
York — an institution worthy of the country. Including engravers
on steel and wood, the stereotype gang, the bookbinders, and other
classes of special laborers, there are employed in the Edinburgh
establishment alone nearly six hundred persons, of both sexes.
The most perfect labor-saving machines to be procured are in use,
and the whole system and management of this vast literary barrack
appear to be thorough and complete. With the exception of the
paper, everything concerned in the manufacture of a book is pro-
duced within their own walls. A detailed description of the place
and the work it is doing would demand a lengthy notice, which I
cannot give you, and if I could I fear the minutiae would interest
only a limited number of your readers, so I will rest contented
with thus briefly alluding to it.

And now, Mr. Editor, in order that your readers who have
confined their perambulations to the New World, and those younger
members of the families in which the Messenger is a household
institution, who have not as yet wandered beyond their own Pro-
vince, may yet have some idea — although a very imperfect one —
of what constitutes a leading and notable city in the Old World, I
have dwelt much more at length on my subject — Edinburgh — than
I intended when I commenced. But although I have written
much — wandering occasionally, I fear, too, from my text — I have
left much unsaid, and I feel assured that when any of those who
may take the trouble to peruse these " Jottings " shall visit this
locality and take the time to see and inquire into all that is
interesting and instructive connected with the Edinburgh of the
past and of the present, they will be inclined to say with the Queen
of Sheba when addressing Solomon, and Dr. Guthrie at the London
Ragged School : " Behold, the half was not told me."

I am afraid if I were to dwell on the meteorology and climate
of Edinburgh at this season I should have to state some unpalatable
truths connected with its moisture and the changes of weather
which are constantly occurring. As is usual, during the past six
weeks the cheeks of its inhabitants have been fanned by high winds
and oft-recurring gales, but there has been no frost of any moment,
and any ice that may have formed has not exceeded an inch, or at
most an inch and a half, and has continued only for a day or two.
The last day I walked into the country the plows were actively at
work turning over the soil, and there has been no frost to prevent
them since. In closing, permit me to say a word or two in relation
to a matter in which we, as well as every inhabitant of Halifax,
should be deeply interested. I have recently read with much satis-
faction the resolution moved by Alderman Wylde in the City

EDINBURGH, 1871-3 321

Council, to borrow money to enable the civic authorities to under-
take a thorough and modern system of sewerage for the city. The
work will of course be expensive, but nevertheless it should be done.
And every citizen who has the true interests of the community at
heart should sustain those who are moving in the matter.

For want of such a system in Halifax very many lives are
annually sacrificed by typhoid fever and other preventable diseases
• — diseases which by a judicious expenditure of money could with
moral certainty be warded off, to a great extent.

The civic government, led on by Mr. Wylde, are only doing that
for which the citizens of Halifax should hold up both hands, and,
if opposition should arise, I trust the press of the city will be at
their backs and aid them in bringing the matter to a successful
issue.

In this country the sewerage question is, at present, attracting
great attention, and the recent illness of the Prince of Wales has
given it additional importance. In Edinburgh the professional
societies are freely discussing the subject.

The errors and defects of present systems are being canvassed,
and as was practically illustrated the other night at the Medico-
chirurgical Society by Dr. Balfour, the neglect of architects,
builders and plumbers, in the performance of their duties, has
caused death to enter the dwellings of families residing here in
fashionable localities, where the drainage was supposed to be
perfect.

In this connection I may say that I have read with great pleas-
ure., in the Dalhousie College Gazette, the address of Dr. Farrell
on State Medicine and Public Hygiene, delivered at the opening
of the present session of that college. Dealing, as it does, with
important principles connected with human health and the public
interests, it should have had a wider curculation than it has
obtained. These principles for which the Doctor contends must
eventually come to the surface and be adopted, in the main, by the
governments and the public of all civilized and advanced countries.

With best wishes for your continued welfare,

I am, dear sir,

Very truly yours,

D. M.6N. Paeker.

CHAPTEK VIII.

FIRST YEARS OF CONSULTING PRACTICE (1873-1881).

" Life is — to wake, not sleep,
Rise, and not rest."

— Browning.

"Beechwood" had been leased for two years, in 1871, and
upon his return my father resided with his brother Frank at 96
Morris Street until he could resume possession of the Dartmouth
home in August, 1873. The family returned from Scotland in
June. He purchased, for office purposes, in the spring of 1873,
the two-and-a-half story house, number 70 Granville Street, the
old home of the Primrose family, which adjoined on the south
the site of the Young Men's Christian Association building erected
afterwards at the corner of Granville and Prince Streets. The
first floor contained his offices, the second was occupied by the late
Dr. W. C. Delaney, dentist, and a housekeeper lived in the attic
story. Here my father commenced practice as a consulting phy-
sician and surgeon, and remained until the spring of 1882, when
he sold the property to the brothers Mahon, who removed the
house and extended their business premises, which now cover its
site.

It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that his prestige in the pro-
fession did not suffer through his absence abroad, and that he
found ready to his hand, upon his return, a large consulting prac-
tice. The only difficulty he encountered — and he had to contend
with it for some time — was in resisting the importunities of former
patients and many close friends to take their cases in the old way.
He had been pre-eminently an old-school family physician. As
such he had acquired in the years of general practice a thorough
understanding of family history, in the medical sense, and of the
history of cases chronic and otherwise, which seemed to these old
patients to make his services of more value to them and to their
children than the services of other physicians. And then, as
family physician, he had become the repository of many confi-
dences, semi-professional and otherwise, which, unwillingly enough
on his part, had been invited by his capacity for wise counsel and
his sympathetic spiritual qualities, and, so to speak, thrust upon
him in the course of medical ministration in the homes of patients.
This delicate relation of father-confessor and custodian of family

322

FIRST YEARS OF CONSULTING PRACTICE 323

skeleton-closets would fain have been continued by some whose
homes he would now no more enter in the old way. It was difficult
to make such old friends and patients understand that his retire-
ment from general practice and assuming the work of a consultant
only, forbade fhat he should visit them professionally save when
called in consultation with another practitioner. There had not
been hitherto in Halifax or in the Province any member of his
profession who confined himself to consulting practice, and the
self-imposed limitation, with the professional ethics of the situa-
tion, were slowly understood. It was hard in some cases, too, for
him to have to sunder close and long-standing ties of this
description.

The dynasty of the " specialists " had not then extended its
sway to this Province. If he could have been said to " specialize "
as a consultant, it was in surgical cases. No important operation
at the hospitals, or elsewhere, was attempted without him, and he
performed, I believe, operations which had not been attempted
previously in Halifax. As a surgeon, particularly, his services
became now more generally in request throughout the Province,
where he was frequently called to operate, or to advise upon opera-
tions. His flights through the country upon such service were
frequent and rapid. When he would appear in a community,
summoned by one physician, others would avail themselves of the
opportunity to consult him, and he rarely made casual non-pro-
fessional visits in any part of the country without being discovered
and carried off for consultations. I recollect once, when at college,
hearing the Sabbath calm of Wolfville disturbed by a shrieking
locomotive, with a single car attached, dashing through at a most
unusual and what was thought to be a reckless rate of speed. It
was my father going " special " to Yarmouth, on a Sunday visit
in an urgent " case of necessity or mercy."

His office consultations fully occupied all the hours set apart
for them. The waiting-room seemed always occupied, and very
often filled, by patients awaiting their turn to be called within. I
have rarely known a moment of his office hours to be unemployed
at 70 Granville Street, or at his subsequent and last location, on
Hollis Street.

He had always been an authority upon professional ethics, in
which his standards were high and unimpeachable. In this depart-
ment his judgment was not infrequently invoked by practitioners,
more usually out of town, for the adjustment of their differences;
and his opinion in such cases was accepted as final and binding.
In his customary methodical manner he would preserve the written
records of such cases. His opinion was frequently taken by rail-
way authorities and accepted by the claimants in cases of adjusting
claims arising out of injuries to persons in accidents, where it was

324 DANIEL McKEILL PARKEE, M.D.

desired to keep the question out of courts. In numerous instances
of both these classes of questions, and in many, widely varying in
their nature, m the spheres of business, ethics and religion, was
he blessed as a peacemaker among men.

It was wonderful to see how widely he was known, and as
widely honored, throughout Nova Scotia in particular, but also
far beyond its borders. It may be questioned whether any man in
the Province, at this period, had more friends and acquaintances
than had he. With his family it was proverbial that he knew
" everybody," go where he would ; and, in travelling with him, so
invariable was his answer to the question who this person or that
might be who engaged him in conversation, that one would suppose
" the world and his mother " had been " old patients of mine."

He could now live a life that was more regular in its habits
and less strenuous in its activities, though it must be said that the
usual work of a day was still more than a day's work. He was
sure of more of the home life which he loved, and of which through
so many years he had been deprived. As he said, he could now
get to know his children and have some time for their society. At
least they would not have gone to bed ere he returned at night and
be still asleep when he set out from home next morning.

A fondness for all children was one of his traits. He loved to
have them about him, and even the noise of their games and play
about the house seemed agreeable to him. When, in the seventies,
he would return home about five o'clock in the afternoon of a
stormy day which kept young folk indoors, and would find the
house in possession of the neighborhood's children, gathered with
his own for romping games, he would take his accustomed after-
noon " nap " in the sitting-room upstairs, undisturbed by the rush
of " hide-and-seek " throughout the house, the clamor of the fiercest
Indian warfare in the attic, or the shock of naval battles fonght
in the long play-room overhead, where toy guns popped, steel
clashed on steel, and fire-crackers resounded from the wooden
cannon of the men-of-war constructed there. He said it helped him
sleep, and he rebuked suggestions for peace. In the same spirit
of fond toleration, at a later time, would he work over his cases
and his other business in the evening to an accompaniment of dis-
cordant practice by a small orchestra across the hall preparing for
some meeting of the Dartmouth " Euterpean Society."

As has been intimated at an earlier page, it is beyond the scope
of this undertaking to enter with any degree of particularity the
field of my father's professional work ; nor would this be possible,
save for some professional contemporary who had been closely
associated with him through many years — and of such none now
remain. Moreover, to his family he was habitually and impene-
trably secretive in all matters of a professional character. This

FIRST YEARS OF CONSULTING PRACTICE 325

was part of the ethics of his calling. As indicative, however, of
his general standing in the profession at this period, as estimated
by one of his junior brethren who was the author of an obituary
tribute published in the Maritime Medical News for November,
1907, which voiced the consensus of professional opinion then, a
quotation from that article may speak:

"At this time (1871) he stood in the very front rank of his
profession, was engaged in most of the more serious cases, was
held in high esteem by his professional brethren, and was regarded
with unbounded confidence by the public. Indeed, so great was
Dr. Parker's professional success during the first twenty-five years
of his practice that the second quarter-century's practice can hardly
be said to have added much or anything to it, though it continued
and confirmed it, and rounded out a half-century of practice in a
manner that has been very rarely equalled." Referring to the
period of study and investigation from 1871 to 1873, the author
says : " Such a proceeding on Dr. Parker's part was eminently
characteristic. He never suffered himself to fall behind the rest
of the world in the knowledge of his profession. He was ever
determined to keep up-to-date, and he did so. Notwithstanding
his fifty years of practice, he was fully possessed, to the last, of
the latest advances in medical and surgical science. Upon his
return to Halifax in 1873, he did not again enter into general
practice, but limited his practice to that of a consultant in medicine
and surgery. In this he was highly successful. He enjoyed the
esteem and confidence of his professional brethren as well as of
the public, and his fine professional judgment, great knowledge
and ripe experience found a wide field of public usefulness."

On August 4th, 1875, the Canadian Medical Association met
in Halifax. The minutes disclose that he took an active part in
the discussions ; among others, those on " Surgical Cleanliness,"
and cases of typhoid fever resulting from defective house drainage.
He also moved a resolution for a committee to take up with the
Dominion Government the whole matter of Vital Statistics. He
was a member of the Nominating Committee for this session.
Subsequent to the period covered by Dr. Charles Elliott's notes in
the sixth chapter he attended various meetings of this Association,
and his interest in it by no means flagged after the earlier years
of its history to which Dr. Elliott more particularly refers. To
follow his attendance upon the meetings of the various professional
societies to which he belonged, and to trace his contributions to
their work at this date, can only be very imperfectly done, for
want of access to records, and in some cases owing to the lack of any
records of transactions.

We have seen, by the address of 1871 to the Canadian Medical
Association, that the subject of the care and reformation of inebri-

326 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

ates was then upon his mind. The policy which he then advocated
upon the platform was not lost sight of by him, and having enlisted
the sympathy and financial support of a number of his fellow
citizens, he attempted to carry it out in Nova Scotia. In May,
1875, the " Act to Provide for the Guardianship and Cure of
Drunkards," which he introduced in the Legislature and carried
through, was passed; and its essential provisions yet remain to
his credit on the statute book of the country. Though the clauses
touching the legal procedure for the interdiction of drunkards and
the appointment of guardians were doubtless drafted with legal
assistance, I detect my father's hand in certain portions of the Act
— in the preamble, for instance, which explains its purpose thus:
" Whereas, the drunkenness of the heads of certain families and
other persons in this Province has heretofore, on many occasions,
been the cause of ruin to their families, and of grievous injury as
well to their relatives as to their creditors ;

" And whereas, in the interests of society it is necessary for
the future to remedy such evils ;

" And whereas, experience has shewn that drunkards who
appear most incurable may often be reclaimed by a reasonable and
regular course of treatment, and that such course of treatment can
be efficaciously pursued only in institutions organized for the
purpose."

This Act provided that the Government might grant a license
to keep an asylum for the use of drunkards to any persons who
might appear deserving of it.

In furtherance of his object he next applied himself to the
establishment of such an asylum, on a philanthropic basis. In
1876 he introduced in the Legislature a bill to incorporate " The
]STova Scotia Inebriate Home," which passed in April, in which
he is named as one of the corporators, and which secured to his
corporation a government license. The Sinclair property, known
as " The Grove," near the first lake in Dartmouth, had been
previously leased, and the Home was formally opened by the Lieu-
tenant-Governor on August 2nd, 1876. My father was its only
President, and contributed of his means and his labors to its main-
tenance. But the idea was in advance of public sentiment ; and
the institution, wholly dependent as it was upon public charity
for support, languished for want of funds. It was closed May 1st,
1880; but during its brief career 297 patients had been admitted
and treated.

This, I think, was the only charitable institution with which
he connected himself that did not succeed. Largely through his
influence the idea was revived in 1891, when the Legislature passed
another Act, which he supervised in its progress, for the establish-
ment of an Inebriate Home by the city of Halifax; but, owing to

FIKST YEARS OF CONSULTING PRACTICE 327

lack of public interest, this second venture into the same field of
philanthropy fell short of the measure of success achieved by my
father under the legislation of fifteen years before.

Just now, in 1909, the State of New York is putting into
practice the principle of my father's legislation and efforts of 1875
and 1876, and the " Certified Inebriety Reformatories " of Eng-
land, established in 1898, are meeting with success. The far-
seeing Nova Scotia pioneer in this department of sociology was
simply in advance of his time, as might be said of him in some
other respects.

One would suppose that the charitable and educational insti-
tutions with which he was already busily associated at that period
were enough for his strength and available time. Some enumera-
tion of them appears in my monograph on " Daniel McNeill and
His Descendants." But, " in labors more abundant," no enter-
prise to uplift and help his fellow-man failed to enlist his sym-
pathetic service if he thought that by taking hold he could do aught
in the uplift to mitigate the sum of human misery.

The writer in the Maritime Medical News, who has already
been quoted, said of him : " Indeed, it would not be easy to mention
any philanthropic institution in this city or vicinity with which
this man of overflowing sympathy and good-will and of many
activities was not connected as a willing helper and conscientious
worker." And this was true. It would be superfluous to enter
here upon an account of his public services of this character.
References to these appear elsewhere, and shed sufficient light
upon them. The account of his pioneer work on behalf of the
inebriate is furnished as illustrative and typical.

Reference has already been made to the estimation in which
my father was held by men of high standing in his profession
abroad. At Edinburgh, in the early seventies, he impressed many
of his brethren by his qualifications and personal attractiveness ;
so much so that he received, but declined to consider, certain over-
tures looking to his establishment there. Among these men was
the late Sir Grainger Stewart, then lecturing in pathology at the
University. In 1876 Professor Laycoek, who had occupied the
chair of the Practice of Physic, died, and Sir Grainger was one
of the applicants for this professorship. In support of his applica-
tion he sought, by the following letter, a testimonial from my
father. That which follows is found, among others furnished by
such men as Sir Andrew Clark, Sir William Jenner, Professor
Andrew Halliday Douglas, and others equally distinguished in
the medical world, included in a pamphlet addressed to " The
Right Honorable and the Honorable the Curators of the University
of Edinburgh." This testimonial is given place here, not only to
attest my father's standing in his profession, but as throwing more

328 DANIEL McKEILL PARKEE, M.D.

light on the period of his research work of a few years before.
It may be added that this testimonial is not the only instance of
the kind connected with professorships in the University of Edin-
burgh.

" 19 Charlotte Square,

" Edinburgh,

"Sept. 22nd, 1876.
" My Dear Dr. Parker.

" Poor Laycock died yesterday, and I intend to become a candidate
for the vacant chair.

" May I ask you to send me at your earliest convenience a certificate,
as vigorous as you can conscientiously make it. I intend only to send in
a very few testimonials, and therefore shall be glad if you will speak as
to the character and success of my clinical teaching and general medical
qualifications.

" Excuse great haste, and accept our united kind regards.
" I remain,

" Yours very sincerely,

" T. Grainger Stewart.
" May I ask you to send me your titles on a separate slip."

Testimonial.

"From the Hon. Daniel McNeill Parker, M.D., Edin. (1845); Member of
the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia; Consulting Physician to the
Provincial and City Hospital of Halifax; Honorary and Correspond-
ing Member of various* Learned Societies in Europe and America;
formerly President of the Dominion of Canada Medical Association,
etc."

" Halifax, Nova Scotia,

"October 13, 1876.
" Through the medium of medical periodicals, and his work on
'Bright's Diseases of the Kidneys,' I have been familiar with the name
of Dr. T. Grainger Stewart, and considered him an advanced and able
Pathologist, and a Medical Practitioner of high scientific attainments.
But he was personally unknown to me until the year 1871, when I visited
Edinburgh, and there remained for sixteen months. During this period
I had ample opportunity of observing his diagnostic powers, and of esti-
mating his practical knowledge of disease, and its treatment.

" For the greater part of the Winter Session of 1871-72, and of the
Summer Session of the latter year, as also during three months of the
Winter Session of 1872-73, I almost daily accompanied him in his visits
to his wards in the Royal Infirmary, and was a very regular attendant
at his bedside teachings, where he always had a large following of
advanced and intelligent students, to whom he imparted, concisely and
ably, all that was important connected with the Literature, diagnosis, and
treatment of the large number of interesting and important cases which
were constantly collected in his wards — many of them having been sent
to him by medical men from a distance.

" From this teaching in the wards and from his more carefully pre-
pared and exhaustive lectures in the clinical class-room, at which, for the
time already specified, I was a very constant attendant, I derived much
important information that has since been of essential service to me in
the practice of my profession.

" In brief, I may state that, as a Clinical Teacher, I have not listened
to his superior, and I have no doubt but that as a Lecturer on Sys"-
tematic Medicine he will exhibit equal ability.

" From what I have stated above it will be observed that I have had
exceptional opportunities of measuring Dr. Stewart's qualifications and

FIRST YEARS OF CONSULTING PRACTICE 329

capacity, and am thus enabled to speak with confidence as to his fitness
to fill the position he now seeks — that of Professor of Practice of Physic
in the University of Edinburgh — and in strongly recommending him for
this post of honour and importance in my ' Alma Mater,' 'I feel assured
that should he be the successful candidate, the interests of the school
will be advanced, and the Science of Medicine will lose nothing by his
appointment to the vacant chair.

" (Sgd.) D. McN. Pakker."

In 1876 his summer vacation was spent, with my mother, at
the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, the first of the great
American " World's Fairs." It seems characteristic of him, as
his life is reviewed, that he was attracted always by first, or new,
things, and paiticipated in, or saw, or investigated them, in many
spheres of human interest. The fund of information which he
brought away from the " Centennial," in his notes of observation
and in his remarkably retentive memory, was wonderful to me,
more especially after I had " taken in " the bewilderments of a
subsequent World's Fair at Chicago.

In 1878 I was with him on an outing through Prince Edward
Island and New Brunswick. An incident occurred on the Island
which amused him not a little. It was the year of the general
election which resulted in the return of Sir John A. Macdonald
to power, upon the National Policy. Hon. Edward Blake, Hon.
Richard J. Cartwright and Mr. Wilfrid Laurier were stumping
the Island for the Mackenzie Government, and we heard them
speak at Charlottetown. Mr. C. J. Brydges, the General Super-
intendent of Government Railways, who knew my father, was in
charge of their travelling arrangements, and, having provided a
special train to take the politicians to Georgetown, he invited my
father to join the party. We went accordingly, " to economize
time," as my father would have said, for we were through with
Charlottetown and were awaiting the regular train of the follow-
ing morning to go to the eastern part of the Province. All went
well until next morning, when at the breakfast table of the hotel
in Georgetown, conversation turned to some question of party
politics, and one of the political trio asked my father for an expres-
sion of opinion. " You must excuse me from Council," said he,
laughingly, " for I am a supporter of Sir John Macdonald !" The
politicians looked dour, straightway emulated the proverbial oyster
— who knows when to shut up — and Mr. Brydges looked sheepish,
discovering that he had made a faux pas in wasting courtesy upon
a fellow-traveller who was now beyond the pale of recognition by
the triumvirate. We were struck off the " patronage list," and we
pursued the next stage of the journey painfully following in their
wake on a freight train, which habitually baulked at every one of
those double curves for which the Island railway was then famed,
and gave every opportunity to its human freight to " let patience

330 DAJSTIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

have her perfect work." It was small wonder that our neighbors
in the car failed to understand my father's occasional bursts of
hilarity, and seemed to resent them, for the journey on that freight
(" accommodation " they called it) possessed no element of humor
for a passenger who wanted to get anywhere. The circumstances
of this sort of travel might well evoke the Tapleyan spirit. My
father had some of that; but it was the recollections of the two
preceding days which caused the merriment.

In October, 1879, there was a holiday tour, with my mother,
on the St. Lawrence and up the beautiful Saguenay River, with a
visit to Ottawa.

In the summer of 1880 the Canadian Medical Association
met again in Halifax, when my father made the address of wel-
come to the delegates. It was, in part; as follows :

" The Canadian Medical Association has done ISTova Scotia,
and especially the city of Halifax, the honor of holding its annual
session here, down by the sea ; and representing, as I do to-day,
the profession of both Province and city, permit me, on their
behalf as well as my own, to cordially welcome the Association to
our Provincial capital and to the cool and genial atmosphere of an
Atlantic city. We are greatly gratified that so many men of high
professional and social position have favored us with their pres-
ence; that Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick have so many
able representatives in attendance; that so much substantial and
profitable work has already been done, and that more of a truly
scientific and educational character remains to be submitted to
the common brotherhood of our widespread organization.

" I am pleased to know that even those who have left our
shores, some of the ablest men in our profession in the Dominion,
our workers in the past, who are now in the Fatherland that they
may there attend a similar professional Association, if absent in
the body are with us in heart and in spirit; for they have left
with us valuable papers on important subjects to be read before
this Association and have thus contributed to the interest of the
meeting and the advancement of the cause we all have at heart.
Brouse, Almon, Putnam, McDonald, Howard, Grant, Osier and
others will well and ably represent our body at the meeting of the
British Medical Association, and thus create a deeper interest in
the Canadian profession in the minds of our brethren of the
British Isles.

" The work already performed during this session has been
eminently practical and profitable, whether it has had relation
to surgery, medicine or the public health; and let me say, in
reference to this last-named subject, that it is matter for congratu-
lation that hygiene has taken in recent times such a hold on the
professional mind. Would that our efforts, disinterested and

FIEST YEARS OF CO^TSULTIXG PRACTICE 331

magnanimous as they are, could have a like effect on, and stimulate
to activity and aggressiveness, the different Legislatures of our
common country, and those for whose interests they are supposed
to exist and to labor — the outside public, the entire population of
our land, who, while we labor and warn, sit idly by as if they had
no interest in the matter. And this they do while thousands are
annually falling, like leaves in autumn, and returning again to
dust from whence they came, by the inroads of zymotic diseases —
by preventable diseases, diseases that could be kept at bay if the
Legislatures and the people of our country would but lend an
attentive ear to the oft-repeated warnings, proclaimed aloud and
from the very housetops by a generous and philanthropic pro-
fession, who live and labor not only to cure, but to stay and prevent
disease and the causes of disease.

" It is often assumed that medical men, in coming together as
we are doing now to discuss medical, surgical and sanitary sub-
jects, are acting solely in their own interests and in the interest
of science. Let me here disabuse the minds of any present who
may entertain this idea, by stating that it is first the public inter-
est, secondly the advancement of medical science, and lastly our
own interests; and that this all means: how best to elevate and
render more useful to our common humanity the profession to
which we belong, how best to alleviate suffering and save the lives
of those who are made in God's own image — our fellow-men. The
subject of dollars and cents, of fees, of how to increase our pro-
fessional emoluments, of 'how best to bleed the sick and the afflicted,
has never once come up for consideration in this Association since
its birth in the fair old city of Quebec in the year 1867.

" I congratulate the Association on being so ably represented
in the presidential chair by my friend Dr. Canniff, the Professor
of Surgery in the Toronto School of Medicine. We are glad to
have a gentleman distinguished in the West both as an author and
a practical surgeon, in our midst guiding our professional ship
in its journey and skilfully piloting it onward to a sure and safe
scientific harbor and anchorage.

" We miss our worthy, able and laborious Secretary, Dr.
David, who, since the inception of the Association, has been its
' Atlas,' bearing its weight and its official responsibilities on his
shoulders, until, through difficulties seen and unseen, he has
materially assisted in making the Canadian Medical Association
an honored institution which is accomplishing much for the eleva-
tion and for the scientific progress of our profession. Dr.' David
tarries behind to regain physical health and strength ere he again
resumes his duties, and Dr. Wright, in the meantime, ably takes
his place. We congratulate him on his success in the performance
of the arduous preparatory work, and that which attends his ses-
sional duties.

332 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

" We have again to welcome our friend the Treasurer,
Dr. Tuedell, who never fails to establish himself in the pockets
and purses of the members. We welcome him gladly as an
able, true and high-minded representative of our French-Cana-
dian brethren; and when he returns to his home in Quebec I
would like him to say to his confreres that the Nova Scotians
regret that they have not had the pleasure of a larger representa-
tion of our old and new friends from that Province on this
occasion.

" But, gentlemen, I must close, by saying to one and all of
those who come to us from outside our Provincial lines, our friends
from New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island included, we
extend to you a hearty welcome, and trust that the day may not
be far distant when we shall have the pleasure of seeing you with
us again on a similar mission."

The following information is extracted from the Society's
Minute Book, touching my father's connection with the work of
the Medical Society of Nova Scotia during the years covered by
this chapter.

" 1873, June 18. — Meeting in Kentville. Dr. Parker was
present and spoke on the use of the galvanic cautery and the treat-
ment of aneurism by electrolysis, and explained and illustrated
Lister's antiseptic method, and showed several new instruments
brought from Edinburgh.

" 1874. — Meeting at Amherst. Dr. Parker reported for the
Committee on Ethics, recommending the adoption of the Code of
the Medical Association of Canada.

" 1875. — Meeting at Halifax. It was proposed to form a
Maritime Medical Association. Dr. Parker was appointed a
member of the committee on that subject; he was also nominated
for the Medical Board, or Council, and was elected chairman of
the Committee on Surgery for next year.

" 1877, June 20. — Meeting at Truro. Hon. Dr. Parker was
elected President for next year.

" 1878.— Meeting at Halifax, in Y.M.C.A. Hall. President,
Hon. Dr. Parker, who delivered his address at 3.30 p.m., June
19th. This address was ' highly interesting and instructive, being
illustrative of the practice of medicine and surgery in this Pro-
vince thirty years ago as compared with the same of to-day,
the relation of the profession to the public and of its
legal status in the community, and concluded by offering very
important and seasonable advice to the junior members of the
profession.' Dr. Parker was appointed on a committee to convey
to the public the expression of the Society's opinion that diphtheria
is a contagious disease. He was also nominated on the Committee
on Medicine.

FIRST YEARS OF CONSULTING PRACTICE 333

" 1879, June 18. — Meeting at Halifax. Dr. Parker read a
paper on the Progress of Medicine, prepared by Dr. Fraser, of
New Glasgow, who was unable to be present. He participated in
the discussion of various papers, and gave an account of a case
of ' housemaid's knee ' occurring recently in his practice. He was
elected to represent the Society on the Provincial Medical Board,
and on several committees.

" 1880, June 16. — Meeting in Halifax. Dr. Parker took an
active part in the sessions. He moved the vote of thanks to the
retiring President, Dr. D. H. Muir, and in his speech spoke on
the Medical Act and its enforcement in the suppression of
quackery. Later he moved for and obtained a committee on the
subject of ' Medical Laws of the Province and Physicians' Cer-
tificates,' of which committee he was made chairman. He ' pre-
sented an interesting case of morphia poisoning, due to hypo-
dermic injection of 1-3 gr. of morphia, which was successfully
antidoted by the injection of ammonia liq.'

" 1881, June 15. — Meeting held at Antigonish. Dr. Parker
was equally active at these sessions. In his speech on moving
the vote of thanks to the retiring President, the late Dr. Edward
Farrell, he expressed the opinion ' that the Dominion Government
should take steps toward establishing a Bureau of State Medicine,'
spoke strongly upon the question of improved measures of sani-
tation for the promotion of the public health, and contended that
the Society should ' take steps to throw the onus of so many deaths
from infectious diseases upon the Provincial Government.' He
was appointed on a committee to labor with this government to
obtain improved legislation for the prevention of zymotic and con-
tagious diseases and in behalf of sanitation generally." (It may be
added here that improvements in the Public Health Act followed.)
" He reported for the Committee on Certificates of Lunacy
certain amendments of the Lunacy law embodying changes in the
form of certificates now in use. As usual, he was appointed to
one or more standing committees."

These notes and extracts will serve to illustrate his customary
activity in the work of medical societies.

The period which the present chapter comprises was marked
by little of incident to record. It was occupied by the routine
work of consulting practice and surgical operations; and, as
freedom from the incessant demands of a general practice now
permitted it, more work on directorates of business and charitable
enterprises was taken on. The day's work was more regular than
of old, but strenuous in its very regularity and in the variety and
multiplicity of duties. He had no capacity, seemingly, for idle-
ness, or what most men term resting, at least when at home; and
a full time-table was a real enjoyment to his ever active mind.

334 DANIEL McNEILL PARKEK, M.D.

Rest and recuperation had to be enforced by the periodical absences
from the scene of labor; but when away from home for this object
his absences were usually abbreviated by an almost feverish anxiety
to get back to work and a complete programme for the day. Apart
from continual activity, he rarely seemed happy for more than
a short time.

Closing this chapter now, we take up in the next some account
of his farthest tour, on vacation, the recollections of which never
ceased to be as much a source of enjoyment to him as were the
experiences of the travel themselves.

CHAPTER IX.

ACROSS THE CONTINENT.

"Travel, In the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a
part of experience."

— Francis Bacon.

In the summer of 1881 my father joined a party, consisting
of Sir Charles and Lady Tupper, Mr. Andrew Robertson of Mont-
real, Collingwood Schreiber, Chief Engineer of Government Works
for Canada, Mr. Jones, his private secretary, and Colonel and
Mrs. Clarke of Halifax, upon a tour which had British Columbia
as its objective point. Sir Charles Tupper, then Minister of
Railways, and Mr. Schreiber, went to inspect the western section
of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which was then in an early stage
of construction, and upon business connected with the location of
its Pacific terminus, also to inspect portions of the road building
in Manitoba.

The story of my father's participation in these travels is told
in selections from his letters home. Some of the series, however,
are missing.

The Canadian Pacific Railway, which was completed five years
after this tour, has made travel to the Pacific Province an easy
and commonplace thing, and we are all familiar enough with the
new British Columbia, while Manitoba has become quite central
in the Canada of to-day. But in 1881, to visit the Coast and to
see something of interior British Columbia under the old order
were very different ; and this tour, as I think some of the follow-
ing letters will show, has some features of unusual, and even his-
torical interest, when viewed from a standpoint of nearly thirty
years after the event — years of phenomenal progress and of change
in all the conditions of Western Canada.

The first letter, dated August 5th, is from Ottawa, where he
had undertaken a mission to the Government for Professor Law-
son, of Halifax, in connection with the Dominion Exhibition, about
to be held in Halifax. Thence he went by way of Prescott and
Toronto to Samia, where he visited his old friend, Colonel Vidal,
then a member of the Senate, and joined the party for the west-
ward journey.

335

336 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKER, M.D.

The second letter following will serve to illustrate his style of
correspondence with his children. The other letters follow without
comment.

Alexander Hotel, Sarnia, Ontario,

August 8th, 1881.
My Dear Wife :

After despatching my letter to you from Ottawa, on Friday
night, I embarked on the train in a through Pullman for Toronto,
was shunted about a good deal at Presoott Junction, but on the
whole slept well. In the morning, at Oshawa, we picked up
Senator Gibbs and son (the latter was once my patient in Halifax).
This was a pleasant change. Gibbs said he was just conning over
in his mind how to get at me, so as to ask me to spend a day or
so with them en route for British Columbia, when I turned up,
in accordance with the old saying, " Think of," etc. He said if
Mrs. Gibbs had known that I was on the train she would have gone
to the station to see me. Having made up my mind, however, to
keep on to Sarnia, I could not go back to Oshawa, as it is, as you
know, against my principles to change my plans unless something
of moment should render it imperative.

At Brampton, where we arrived at two o'clock, or thereabouts,
our train was delayed by an accident which befell the Eastern
train. A switch had been left open, and the engine and some of
the first cars got off the track, tearing up the rails and sleepers
for some distance and precipitating the engine down a steep
embankment thirty feet — smashing it all to pieces and nearly
killing the engineer. This occurred at six o'clock a.m., and it
was 3 p.m. before the debris was removed and the road bed in
a condition to permit our train to pass along. It was consequently
after nine o'clock before I reached my hotel, the Alexander House,
where I am very comfortable. Had we been on time, I should
have gone to Vidal's that evening. The next day being Sunday,
and knowing that he and his wife are always occupied with
Sunday school work, I did not call until this morning. He was
very glad to see me. A telegram from Halifax about Exhibition
matters was awaiting me at his house — sent to his care — else I
should have taken them entirely by surprise.

You will remember that on one occasion when I was attending
a Medical Association meeting at Toronto, many years ago, the
Hon. Malcolm Cameron was very attentive to me, and although I
was driven to death with work I had to go and partake of his hos-
pitality. He died four or five years since, and I met his daughter
this morning at Vidal's. I had forgotten all about her, but she
had not forgotten me. She has the reputation of being a very
clever woman, and her father was at one time one of the leading

ACROSS THE CONTINENT 337

minds in Ontario. In front of my bedroom window is the beauti-
ful St. Clair River, connecting Lakes Huron and Erie. It is
about three-fourths of a mile in breadth and runs at the rate of
six miles an hour, its entire length being about one hundred miles.
Instead of dining at Vidal's, as he wanted me to do, I crossed the
ferry and spent the day looking at the sights of the long town
called Port Huron, which stretches itself along the banks of the
river on the American side, and, having dined at my hotel, am
now writing you a few lines before I take a nap, after which I
shall walk up to Vidal's and he will take me out in his carriage
to Lake Huron, a very pleasant drive, he says, and in the evening
I am to join a party of friends at his house, asked to meet me.
His minister (Presbyterian) married Alex. Mackenzie's daughter,
so I shall have the opportunity of seeing her to-night. Mackenzie,
Vidal tells me, is better. He has not yet returned from England.

I attended at the service of Rev. Mr. Johnston (Baptist, of
course) morning and evening, and went to his Bible class in the
afternoon. The day was pleasantly and profitably spent. Mr.
Johnston preached two good sermons, and led his Bible class with
much ability. There were about thirty present, intelligent young
women for the most part. I walked home with Mr. and Mrs. J.
in the evening, and had half an hour's very pleasant conversation.
He has been here six years and is doing well. At present they
are building a new church and are temporarily worshipping in
the Y.M.C. Association Hall. He would just be the man for us,
I think, but he is like Nehemiah, engaged in a great work and
cannot go down and leave it. In my efforts to put on a clean
shirt yesterday I tore off a button, and the chambermaid has just
been sewing it on again. This is the only accident I have met
with, save the destruction of the outer apparatus on the lock of
the large trunk. It is a wonder they had not broken and torn
the whole framework away, so violently do they toss the luggage
about. I have had the greatest comfort in the Pullman at night
by keeping the foot window open after your mode of procedure.
While others have been melting I have been cool and comfortable.
In the morning, however, the porter looks amazed to see my head
where my feet ought to be. To keep the sparks and ashes out of
my face and eyes I turn my head towards the engine. There is
only one risk about it, and that is that a spark may light on the
sheet and ignite it and cremate me, and possibly others, but as
the trains are enormously long, and my Pullman thus far being
in the rear, the sparks lose their igniting power ere they get to the
crack in my window.

I am very sorry now that I did not ask you to write to me here
by Friday night's mail. As it is, I shall not be able to hear from
you until I reach San Francisco post office. I will probably drop

338 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEK, M.D

you a line from Salt Lake — unless I should chance to be sealed
there. By the way, where is the photograph of Brigham Young
and his many bed-fellows ? I had hoped to have had it with me,
to enliven the journey a little, but thus far I have not come in
contact with it.

I go out to Point Edward to-morrow morning to meet the train
with Tupper and Company at six o'clock. A street car leaves the
hotel at 5.40 a.m. The Grand Trunk station is two miles from the
centre of Sarnia. Yesterday and to-day have been delightfully
cool here, but they have had it frightfully hot, up among the 90's,
as Vidal expresses it.

Ever your affectionate husband,

D. Mc¥. Parker.

Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago,

August 10th, 1881.
My Darling Little Fanny:

I wrote from Sarnia, just as I was leaving for this city, to
dear mamma — the oldest member of the family. I will now take
the opposite extreme, and select the youngest member as my
correspondent on this occasion. . . . We crossed the St. Clair
River on a large steamboat. The whole train was carried over
at once, as the deck of the boat had three lines of rails on it. The
sleepers did not know that they were being ferried over the St.
Clair. Sir Charles had a Directors' car with sleeping accommo-
dation only for three persons, but we can all sit during the day
in the parlor, and at night Col. Clarke, Mr. Robertson and myself
can be accommodated on a Pullman car, while I can dress in Sir
Charles' room in the morning. Mr. Robertson joined us here
to-day, and goes on to British Columbia with us. We arrived at
Chicago at eight o'clock last night and put up at this magnificent
hotel (the Grand Pacific), where I have a large and airy bedroom,
which Sir Charles and Mr. Schreiber have been using to-day to
transact business in. After tea Sir C. and Lady T. and I walked
about the streets for an hour and more, and we have just come in
now from a similar excursion. Before coming up to my room I
took a look at the moon through a large telescope and saw her
mountains and extinct volcanoes, or the craters, as they are sup-
posed to be. Willie must explain all this to you and teach you a
little lunar astronomy. . . . Chicago is an immense city of
more than half a million of inhabitants, with beautiful buildings,
wide streets and a vast number of railroads centreing in it and
running to all parts of North America. It is the great pork and
cattle mart of the United States, and the stockyards are really
vast in extent. Thousands upon thousands of cattle and pigs were

ACKOSS THE CONTINENT 339

in the pens and yards to-day when Col. Clarke and I went out to
visit the place — six miles away from our hotel and yet in the city.
There is not a hill in the city, as far as the eye can reach — the
country is as level as a bowling green. If you Avill look at your
map you will find that it is situated on the southern extremity of
Lake Michigan, and that it is in the State of Illinois. Mr. Jones
(Mr. Sehreiber's secretary) has been buying all kinds of food for
our journey across the plains and Rocky Mountains. We start
to-morrow at 12.30 for San Francisco, and will have five or six
nights yet on our train ere we reach that city. The weather has
been intensely hot, and I have felt the heat and the dust very
much, but not so much as I did when mamma and I went up to
Ottawa. We hope it will rain in a day or two, and the tempera-
ture and dust will then be lowered and laid. It would have been
a fatiguing journey for mamma, but I do wish she had come with
us. I think she would have enjoyed it, and Lady Tupper would
have been delighted with the arrangement. Our party will be
pretty large and a very pleasant one, but mamma's presence would
have increased the pleasure of the trip immensely. Sir Alexander
Gait and his nephew, as secretary, came with us to Chicago on
their way to Manitoba. The nephew is the brother of Ada Tupper.
They left to-night for their destination. The Pacific Railway
Syndicate (Messrs. Stephens, Angus and Mclntyre) are here to
meet Sir Charles on business.

And now, my precious child, I have given you a summary of
my wanderings since my last letter to dear mamma, knowing as
I do that you will be interested in your dear old dad's movements.
I am so sorry that I did not ask mamma to write me here. It
will be a long way off and a long time before I hear from home.
I trust God will keep and preserve you all until I return, if I
am spared to do this. With a great deal of love to dear mamma,
Mary, Laura, Willie, all at Uncle Frank's, Bellevue, and Aunt
Emma, and with very much to your dear little self,
I remain, my dear child,

Your afft. father,

D. McN. Parker.

P.S. — On the receipt of this tell mamma I want her and you
all to write me at once to the care of Honble. Joseph Trutch,
Victoria, British Columbia. This letter will reach me there by
the steamer which leaves San Francisco on the 30th August. Mail
another letter for me to the same address on the 26th of August.
Then another letter or two at short intervals — at Palace Hotel,
San Francisco, Cal. I will write again from San Francisco
immediately on my arrival. I hope all things are moving along
satisfactorily at Dartmouth and in Halifax.

D. McN. P.

340 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

By the by, I forgot to mention that our stay in British Colum-
bia is to be somewhat shortened, as we visit Manitoba and the
Western Territory ere we return. We will strike off at Omaha
and reach that country by the way of St. Paul.

Thursday morning. A fair night's sleep, a good breakfast,
everybody jolly, and just off for the land of the Mormon. Good-
bye, and God bless you all.

D. P.

Omaha, Nebraska,

August 12th, 1881.
My Dear Wife :

We crossed the Mississippi last evening at eight o'clock and the
Missouri River this morning at 9.30, and are resting here on
its banks for two hours ere we take the train for Ogden and Salt
Lake City, more than one thousand miles further west. We have
passed through the great " Hog and Corn Country," rolling prairie
land and waving corn lands, rich and beautiful to the agricul-
turist's eye, but monotonous and lacking variety to me. It is
an immensely rich country and the land is practically inexhaus-
tible as regards its corn producing power, but it is not a wheat
producing district. Trains are rushing north, east, west and south,
and the whole land appears to be alive with travellers, and with
the brute creation being wafted east to fill the hungry stomachs
of the northern and eastern population of this vast republic.
. . . Dinner is waiting at the hotel and we start just as soon
as it is over, so I must stop. I slept well last night considering
the temperature. Just fancy, the temperature of our car for ten
hours or thereabouts was over 100 degrees, and for several hours
it kept at 105 degrees. I felt nearly used up and exhausted, and
Lady Tupper looked as if she must succumb to it. The heat was
more intense than for a long time past. Much love to all.
Ever dearest wife,

Your afft. husband,

D. McN. Parker.

San Francisco,
Thursday, August 18th, 1881.
My Dear Wife :

We arrived here yesterday at 2.30 p.m., having been delayed
nearly four hours to repair damage done by a mountain stream
which was increased in volume by a thunder shower, producing
what is called a "wash-out," or destruction of the bed of the
railroad. These wash-outs are exceedingly common, more espe-
cially on the Southern Pacific, where quite recently the mail train

ACROSS THE CONTINENT 341

was delayed three or four days from this cause while the road was
being repaired. However, on the Central Pacific, which brought
us to San Francisco, they are infrequent, as rain at this season
is rare. On the Pacific slope and in this region they have had
no rain since April last. Their wet season is from October or
November to February or March. We left Salt Lake City on
Monday afternoon at 3 p.m., and connected at 5 p.m. with
the Central Pacific at Ogden. The drive for the next one thousand
miles beggars description for dust, heat and discomfort. The
country (or mountains) through which we passed was barren to
an extent that one could hardly imagine. Here and there along
the banks of the rivers there was grass and a variety of vegetation,
but sage grass, which grows and flourishes on sand and rocky
ground, was the prevailing description of vegetable life. Notwith-
standing the barrenness of the land, great droves of cattle were
constantly seen, and occasionally ranches of large size by the
streams. The cattle were passing continually from one locality
to another seeking food. Water is obtained to supply the railway
villages and posts by wells, and the pumps to draw it are driven
by windmills. In fact, every isolated house, not near a stream,
and every ranch thus situated has its deep well or wells and wind-
mill. Mountain streams are often utilized for purposes of irriga-
tion and the water is carried long distances by small canals and
occasionally by iron or wooden pipes. We all stood the journey
pretty well. As we were ascending the Sierra Nevada Mountains
and winding our way along the most circuitous road, with the
sharpest curves I ever travelled on, through Tuesday night
and Wednesday morning we found extra clothing a desidera-
tum, but there was only one thick blanket to my Pullman
berth, so I had to get up and put on my day clothing, and in this
way made myself comfortable. When daylight appeared I found
our train dashing along through a pine district, and by eight
o'clock we had reached a fine agricultural portion of the State of
California. Continuing our journey with rapidity, as the con-
ductor wanted to make up as much lost time as possible, lost in
consequence of the delay caused by the " wash-out."' we reached
Sacramento after breakfast. This is a city of 25,000 inhabitants
and the capital of the State. Here a deputation of Nova Scotians
waited on us. ... At Benicia we crossed the Strait in an
immense ferry boat, which took our whole train and the engines
on board, and could have taken many more. It accommodates
twenty-six or twenty-eight passenger cars and two engines. The
boat is over 400 feet long and 125 feet in breadth, with an
immensely powerful engine. She was designed after the pattern or
model of our Dartmouth "Mic-Mae," but the railroad authorities
have always, very unfairly, I think, declined to make public recog-

342 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

nition of the fact. She is steered from both ends and runs into just
such docks as we have for our great line on Halifax harbor. At
last we were at the Oakland ferry opposite San Francisco, where
we left the railroad and embarked on another leviathan boat
(also planned after our models) and in twenty minutes were in
far-famed San Francisco. Having left our car, and Douglas, our
faithful colored porter, at Oakland, to await our return from
British Columbia, we drove to this hotel (the Palace) into
a large quadrangle, covered with glass, alighted from our
carriages on to marble floors, were carried to our rooms by a
lift and then took headers into our several baths. . . . Before
I did anything, immediately after my arrival and luncheon, I
walked over to the post office, a distance of half a mile, for letters
from home, but after a search had to come away disappointed, and
it was really a great disappointment. ... I shall go over
again after the arrival of the Eastern mail to-day, and trust I
shall be more successful. Failing to-day, I shall probably not hear
from you for a long time, as we start to-morrow at 10 a.m. for
British Columbia via boat to Portland and then by rail and
boat through Oregon Territory and across the San Juan Channel
to Vancouver Island, to bring up for a day or two at the city of
Victoria before going up the Fraser River to Yale and Kamloops
from Westminster at its mouth. ]STo sooner had we arrived than
the best photographer in San Francisco wrote a note to Sir Charles
asking to allow him to have the honor of taking a photograph of
the party; so it is arranged that we shall all go to his (Tabor's)
chambers " to be took." I think it was suggested by myself that
we should have the porter, Douglas, included in the group, so he
is to accompany us, and the photo will include the entire party —
the darkey, the most important personage of all during our transit
across the great, howling wilderness, will fill up the background.
. . . Mr. Schreiber has been exceedingly attentive and kind
to me. In fact, the whole comfort of our journey has hinged on
him. He is in reality in command, having before visited British
Columbia via San Francisco. He makes all our plans and guides
the ship, while his secretary, Mr. Jones, carries out the details —
pays our bills, supplies the car with provender, and looks gener-
ally after our wants. We have a settlement to make before we
leave here. Until we square up our accounts I cannot tell how
much money I have expended. ... I should be very grateful
(and I am) to God for all His goodness and mercy in bringing
us thus far on our journey without any accident or occurrence of
any kind to mar the pleasure and enjoyment of the trip, and my
prayer to Him is daily that He will keep and preserve you and
our dear children in life and in health, and that we may all meet
once more on earth in our own quiet and dear old home, and that

ACROSS THE CONTINENT 343

I may find all those we love, outside of our own immediate family
circle, as we left them, and poor Mary Allison greatly improved
and well. I long to hear how the poor child is, and this makes
me additionally anxious to get your letter. Ere this reaches you
Willie will be in Yarmouth and will, I trust, enjoy his trip. I
will write to him from British Columbia. He should be working
up all his subjects, so that he will pass a First Class examination,
which will give him some advantages. I presume he has seen
Charlie Tupper relative to going into his office. Willie Tupper
enters Rigby & Tupper's office as a student at once, I believe, that
is, unless he goes first to Harvard law school.

1 p.m. — We have just returned from Tabor's photographer's
establishment. The negative looks well and will, I think, give a
good group. I called on Dr. McNutt, formerly of Truro, who has
a large practice here. He is absent from the city, but I will see
him on my return. . . . We propose seeing the Chinese
quarters to-day. There are twenty or thirty thousand of them
in the city. In this hotel there are a large number of young
Chinese men of good families, who have been receiving an educa-
tion at some of the United States colleges, but who are now ordered
home in consequence of a change in the Chinese government. It
is said that the first minister of the Celestial Empire is impressed
with the belief that these youngsters are learning too much and
are becoming enamored with the habits and customs of the Ameri-
cans and relinquishing the traditions, modes of life and other
things in which they have been trained in their earlier life ; hence
the summons home. You find the Chinaman everywhere on the
Pacific Road, and doing everything. We fell in with large num-
bers of Indians, principally of the " Snake " tribe, all along the
line. The men were clean, well dressed and good looking Indians,
but the squaws were just hideous. If my squaw was as ugly and
ferocious looking as these women are I most assuredly would go
in for a divorce. All through the back parts of this country, and
along the line, but off the track, the Indians are constantly killing
the cattle-men and miners. At one of the stations I met a man
on the platform, and while we were talking elicited the fact that
he was one of three partners in the cattle business in the back
prairie lands, and was also engaged with them in prospecting for
minerals. He told me that he had lost one of his " pardners "
recently, the " Injuns " having killed him, and to-day's papers give
accounts of several such murders. It will take the U.S. Govern-
ment a long time to change the nature of these red men of the
forest, whose lands and homes they are so freely taking possession
of. Dishonesty and bad government, breaches of faith, etc., on
the part of subordinates of the Government are keeping up this
" bad blood " between the American whites and the Indians, while

344 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

the opposite course on the part of the Canadian Government enables
the latter to get along amicably with the Indians of our territories.
Thursday evening, Aug. 18. — I have just received, my darling
wife, your nice long and interesting letter with its enclosures, and
I cannot tell you how glad I am to learn of your welfare and to
get the many items of home news that you have given me. I should
have gone away to British Columbia quite depressed if I had not
received it. ... I cannot help, my dear wife, writing you
long letters. It is the greatest happiness I have when away from
you and the dear children to be talking to you on paper.
May God ever be with you all. Remember me with much love to
Letty, Frank and M. A., and all Granville Street. Also to Annie
and Jane, and tell Wambolt that I was asking about him.
Ever your loving husband,

D. ~M.cN. Parker.

New Westminster,

August 28th, 1881.
My Dearest Wife :

• I closed my letter to Willie on Thursday last just as our party
were about to drive out to Esquimalt, the real harbor of Victoria,
and three miles from that city. Mr. Dunsmuir, of the Wellington
Coal Mine (Nanaimo), took charge of me. The drive was beau-
tiful and the day pleasant. We found the harbor small but good
and well land-locked. In it were two English men-of-war, and a
large Russian man-of-war arrived later in the day to coal. We
inspected all the points of importance connected with the harbor,
critically examined the dry dock, now in course of construction,
finding no little fault with the local Legislature in consequence of
an Act passed by them excluding Chinese labor from the work,
and as a consequence they cannot now get white labor, and the
work is dragging itself very slowly along, and will in all proba-
bility take years to complete, unless this Act is repealed. The
graving dock is to be 450 feet in length, 90 feet broad and 24 feet
deep. The coffer dam is a splendid work of art, and entirely
precludes the entrance of water — very unlike the one constructed
by H. G. Hill at the Ordnance, which Benjamin, Martin and
William had to pay dearly for. No better city for a graving dock
could be found. The rise of tide there is about nine or ten feet.
Mr. Innes, naval store-keeper of the Esquimalt dockyard, showed
us all through this establishment. He has about £100,000 stg.
worth of stores under his charge, and every store-house was found
beautifully neat, as much so as our Annie's kitchen. Altogether
it was like visiting an extensive museum. I drove back to town
with Mrs. Trntch by the "Gorge Road." The Trutches and

ACROSS THE COXTIXEXT 345

Senator McDonald both asked ine to dine with them in the even-
ing. The latter was giving a state dinner to dignitaries, but
Schreiber and I engaged ourselves — each to the other — to dine
at our hotel, the " Driard," and to look up. Mrs. Jones and Mrs.
Wallace in the evening. This programme was carried out, and we
found my old patients delighted to see us. . . . The next
morning (Friday) we embarked on board the Dominion steamer
" Sir James Douglas " for Xanaimo — having, in addition to our
original party, Mr. Trutch and his secretary (Mr. Bovill), Mr.
Walkem, the leader of the Government of British Columbia
(Attorney-General), and Mr. Dunsmuir (before mentioned), the
proprietor of the Xanaimo coal mine, for which he has refused
$1,000,000 ; and quite recently he has paid each of his partners,
Admiral Farquhar and Capt. Egerton, R.X., £30,000 stg. for
their shares, for which they paid him originally only about £2,000
stg. Coal stock is evidently a better investment here than at
Victoria mine, Cape Breton. Trutch represents the Dominion
Government here. . . . He was originally an engineer, from
England. He held an appointment under the Crown, when British
Columbia was a Crown Colony, and when it became a Province
he received a pension. . . . He was the first Governor after
British Columbia came into the Union. Both he and his wife
are pleasant people, and his sister, Mrs. O'Riley, wife of the
Indian Commissioner here, is equally agreeable. Their residences
at Victoria are beautiful, especially O'Riley's cottage and grounds.
At six o'clock p.m., Friday, we entered Xanaimo harbor and the
first thing we saw on landing was the old Hudson's Bay block-
house, erected on a little hill by the edge of the water to protect
the officers and men from Indian attacks in the days gone by. It
must have an interesting history — doubtless a bloody one. Sir
Charles had an address presented to him by the Mayor and Cor-
poration, and he had rather a fiery speech after it from Mr.
Bunster, the member for this county, who pitched into the Gov-
ernment for doing so little for the Province, and especially for
not having carried out Mackenzie's promise to construct a rail-
road from Xanaimo to Esquimalt (on Vancouver Island). . . .
Tupper in reply polished him off splendidly — evidently to the
satisfaction of the Mayor and Corporation and others present.
After a good night's sleep, Tupper, Robertson and myself break-
fasted with Mr. Dunsmuir at his residence at 6.45 a.m., and then
drove seven miles to his mines over a good road. Saw his three
shafts. Went down one some distance (walking), inspected the
nine feet seam — not far from horizontal — the dip being one foot
to seven, and got all the information we could before embarking
on Dunsmuir's narrow gauge railroad for Departure Bay, his
shipping port (three miles from the mines), where Vancouver the

346 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

explorer wintered, and there we met the " Douglas," which had
steamed inside the island from Nanaimo. The boat was sent
ashore, and at 9.30 a.m. Saturday we were on board pointing our
prow towards Burrard Inlet, the selected site of the terminus of
the great Canadian Pacific. Our sail the day before was inside
the island, and it was like inland lake navigation, and it appeared
all the time as if we were running for the rocks and likely to
ground our ship, when of a sudden there would appear a little
opening, narrow, deep and often with abrupt and vertical banks,
hundreds of feet high. Along these grand and picturesque channels
we would run for a short time and then emerge suddenly into
open water again, looking like a cut de sac, to find at the other
end a similar outlet. In these passages and around the most of
these lake-like inlets of the Bay of Georgia there is no anchorage,
so deep is the water, and had we wished it the captain could have
placed his steamer so close to the rocks that we could have stepped
ashore without even an intervening plank to bridge the distance.
At twelve o'clock we entered English Harbor, crossed it and,
passing through a channel nine hundred feet wide, ran into
Burrard Inlet, and to Capt. Raymuir's mills, where we landed to
see the works and partake of his hospitality at luncheon. The
immense timber in his mill surprised us. " Douglas Pine " sticks
were there measuring from 80 to 100 or 120 feet. At the butt
end one must have been about eight feet in diameter. While we
were engaged in inspecting these works and the machine shop,
suddenly, in a moment, we had to rush from the place to join our
ship, as the rain was pelting down by the bucketful and we were
without wraps and could not hold on. Tupper, Schreiber and
Marcus Smith, the engineer in charge of the survey at the Inlet,
had to go up to the top of it — ten miles — on the steamer to inspect
the different localities suggested for the terminal works of the
railroad, and we had not a moment to spare, even to inspect
Raymuir's large trees, a minute's walk from the house where we
lunched, one of which has a diameter of twelve feet and a cir-
cumference of thirty-six feet. At Port Moody we blew our
whistle, and a tall man came out of the woods, and by his boat
boarded us. He turned out to be a Mr. McLeod, of Amherst, who
is engaged on this end of the survey taking soundings and boring
on shore for a rocky foundation to hold the superstructure. He
looked like a drowned rat as he emerged from the forest in
response to our call, which reverberated among the hills and moun-
tains, and startled the Chinese cooks and laborers who were in
camp. This spot was the very picture of solitude and grandeur.
Having got all the information required from McLeod, we passed
down the inlet again to a small hamlet called Hastings, not even
taking the time to call upon Senator Nelson, who has a large

ACROSS THE CONTINENT 347

mill on Burrard Inlet, nearly opposite Raymuir's, and who had
asked us all to lunch with him there ; but Raymuir's invitation
had been given and accepted before his reached Tupper. After
anchoring our ship and ordering her back to Victoria, we all
landed, and almost at the water's edge were met by three covered
coaches, which carried us quickly over a " corduroy " road of nine
miles to this town, New Westminster, which we reached at 7.25
p.m., instead of five o'clock, the hour Tupper had arranged by
telegram to be there to meet a deputation of the citizens and
receive and reply to an address from the Mayor and Corporation.
We dined at once and the address was presented immediately after
dinner. This was followed by a torchlight procession and a
band of music, which paraded up and down before the hotel for
some time, then halted, forming a semicircle, and gave three
cheers for Tupper, who replied in a short speech from the balcony
for himself and subsequently for Sir John A. Macdonald, who was
returned for the Victoria district here when rejected by Kingston,
his old constituency. Walkem, Attorney-General of British Col-
umbia, was then called to the front by three cheers and made a
very good speech. Among the City Councillors was a terribly
ugly man, who came up to me and said, " How do you do, Dr.
Parker ?" He turned out to be a Mr. H., of Barrington, who many
years ago was a patient of mine. Then young Rand called, and
also a former student of Dalhousie, who is now principal of
the Westminster High School. This morning I went to the
Episcopal church with the Tuppers and heard a capital sermon
— the truth in its simplicity — and earnestly put, and to-night I
propose accompanying Rand to a Presbyterian church where he
attends, there being no Baptist church in the town. To-night at
ten o'clock we go on board the up-river steamer and start for Yale,
120 miles, at four o'clock in the morning. . . . Tupper never
was better, so he says. He eats, drinks and sleeps well and is
enjoying the journey immensely. Of course he is king out here.
The people think they owe their Canadian Pacific Railway to him,
and this has given him a strong hold on the popular voice, as
also among the better classes. . . . Robertson is as jolly as
ever, and just as full of his fun and nonsense. He was great on
Mormonism and the Salt Lake City institutions when we were
there, but we did not allow him to be sealed or to bring away
any new wives, confining him to the good one he has got. When
at sea he and I occupy the same staterooms, and on land the same
sections of a Pullman, or rather the opposite berths, I having
Schreiber above me, and he Jones. The ladies to-morrow night go
into quarters at Yale, at Mr. Onderdonk's, an American gentle-
man, who has the contract to build that portion of the railway
extending east from Yale to Kamloops — an $8,000,000 contract.

348 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEE, M.D.

As the most of Yale is burnt down, the rest of us will probably
have to go into camps there, and at our other stopping-places
further east. From Yale we travel in wagons over the celebrated
" Cariboo " road, with the dashing, daring coachman so often
referred to in the press, the fellow who can put the wheels of his
coach within a hairbreadth of the extreme margin of a precipice,
and yet carry his passengers safely to their respective destinations.
The ladies remain at Yale under the special care of Col. Clarke,
who will miss the fine scenery and wild life of the extreme eastern
portion of our journey. We will be back in Victoria next week,
will spend a few days there quietly, and then embark on board
the fine steamer " Dakota " direct for San Francisco, by which
boat our passages are already secured. After a delay of three or
four days at San Francisco, we will take up our car and Douglas,
the porter, and will then depart for Omaha, St. Paul and Winni-
peg— if God permits it — and we shall all be well and able for
the journey. I am keeping very well, get a fair amount of sleep,
and eat with a relish. There is no fatigue or anxiety or care of
any kind to me in thus travelling. Schreiber and his secretary,
Jones, do all the work, attend to the most minute details, pay
bills, etc., keeping an account with each of us. I squared up the
day I arrived at Victoria. . . . We all miss you. Lady
Tupper often says, " Oh ! I do wish Mrs. Parker had come," and
no person wishes it so much, my dear wife, as the man who is
now addressing you. But it is now too late to mend the matter.
We left behind us all the things we could spare at Victoria, so
as to make our up-country luggage as light as possible.
We had fires in this hotel last night, and after our drive enjoyed
them very much. We have walked through an Indian village near
one of the great salmon canneries by New Westminster, where we
saw the native men, women and children in their normal condi-
tion, with dogs, cats, hens and geese gathered around and in the
camps. They are away from their lodges, or winter homes, engaged
in canning and catching salmon, and their residences are of the
most temporary character and sadly lack cleanliness and sanitary
regulations. This cannery employs, I think, over one hundred
Indian men and three hundred Chinese. The latter are all stowed
away like spoons in a drawer, and the three hundred live in a
house not larger than our coach house and Wambolt's dwelling.
They like it, and are allowed to act in the matter as they please,
but why they are not cut down by fevers and diphtheria I cannot
tell. The universal Chinese are found in thousands in British
Columbia engaged in all kinds of work. I cannot fix upon the
date of our return from Winnipeg, but it will, I think, be the
middle of October before I shall be with you in Dartmouth. I
wrote you from Chicago how and where to address me, and am

ACROSS THE CONTINENT 349

looking forward with great pleasure to getting letters on my arrival
at Victoria next week. I think we are sure to leave for San
Francisco a fortnight from yesterday, before which time I hope
to receive several sets of letters from you and our dear children.
On the receipt of this you may the same day write to me at Winni-
peg, Manitoba, care of James Dickie, Esqr., Canadian Pacific Rail-
way, and I will get it before leaving that province for the East,
after which you need not write. . . . To-day I had a visit
from a Mrs. Baker at my hotel. . . . She is a Baptist, and
wishes me to collect $2,000 to pay off the debt on a Baptist church
in Victoria, and then to send them a clever and popular preacher
— a revivalist that will wake up the whole Pacific slope and over-
come the spiritual lethargy and declension of the people here.
Please see that the money is collected and the man ready for
transmission by the time I get home, so as to save me the trouble.
I have also had a visit from a Mr. Archibald, of Truro, connected
with the government telegraph office, and have just seen a Mr.
Chisholm, from Antigonish. Could I ascend to the moon, or
succeed in reaching the North Pole, I would certainly meet in
both places Nova Scotians — friends and patients. I have been
thinking of you all very much to-day, and trust that you and the
children have had a happy and profitable day. May God bless
and preserve you and them from every evil and enable us to meet
again on earth, is the prayer of your ever affectionate husband,

D. McN. Parker.

Chase's Bridge, or Cook's Perry,
Thompson River,

September 1st, 1881.
My Dearest Wife :

After writing you on Sunday last I went in the evening to
the Presbyterian church with Mr. Rand. It was the dinner hour
at the hotel, and I could not even get my good Presbyterian friend,
Mr. Robertson, to accompany me. We had a good sermon, and
it was pleasant to meet with God's people, although they were
strangers to me. . . . After service we embarked on board
the Yale steamer, all having comfortable cabins to ourselves. I
slept well, but was occasionally disturbed by noises overhead. At
two o'clock a.m. steam was got up and they ran about ten miles,
when the fog or river mist prevented them from seeing the channel.
So the captain " tied up " until daylight, that is, ran his ship close
into the bank of the river and fastened a hawser to a tree and
let her tail down stream with the current, which runs from six
to eight miles an hour. We had a capital breakfast, a large and

350 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

well furnished cabin each for gentlemen and ladies, a smoking-
room and every hotel comfort, only the powerful engine, in acting
on the rapidly revolving stern wheel, shook the entire ship and
caused a vibrating, shaking motion which you will see well illus-
trated if you will look at the letter I wrote you on a steamer simi-
larly constructed which was conveying me in 1861 down the Cape
Fear River from Fayetteville to Wilmington. Our crew, except
the officers, were Indians, and good, intelligent workers. They
piled in the pine wood, which we occasionally stopped on the river
to obtain, in a way to open our eyes as to their strength and
activity. The sail up stream was delightful ; the mountain scenery
was grand, beyond description. The view was constantly chang-
ing, in consequence of the serpentine course of the Fraser, and
this gave great variety to the scene. Our progress was but slow
in consequence of the rapidity of the current, the whirlpools and
other difficulties we had to contend with. Indian villages were
passed in numbers. Many of them were temporary structures,
made of pine boughs, canvas or matting, to be used only during
the fishing season, after which they go back to their respective
rivers from which they take their name. Thus many are called
Thompson River, Buonaparte River or Dead Man's River Indians
— from the locality where they more permanently dwell. They
are in the main small men and women, and for the most part live
on fish, which are caught (especially salmon) by the million.
They split them and dry them in the open and dry air of this
region without any salt or smoking processes. They store them
for winter use in " caches," or large boxes, placed from thirty to
fifty feet up on the strong branches of the pine tree to keep the
bears and other animals from reaching them, and, the better to
protect them, these trees have a circle — about twelve inches in
breadth — of tin plate nailed to them, so that the claws of the
animals are prevented from aiding them in their ascent to the
odorous and much-coveted fish suspended above their heads. The
Indian horses are small, and they use a modified Mexican saddle.
Both men and women use this saddle, and the latter sit on it, as
do the men, with their legs across the animal. They are engaged
as " packers," that is to say, thousands of them live by carrying
freight to the miners and ranch men living far back in the moun-
tains, the packs being fastened on the backs of their horses and
mules. We often met long trains of these mules on the Cariboo
road, and saw them descending by the narrow and high mountain
trails, carefully picking their way along lest they should be pre-
cipitated hundreds of feet into the rivers below. One Indian rides
ahead with a cow-bell on his horse's neck and, in large or long
trains, another follows mounted. With unerring certainty the
pack horses or mules follow the bell mule and but very seldom lag

ACROSS THE COXTIKEXT 351

behind, and then only for a minute to taste a sweet morsel of
the coveted grass which perchance may be seen beside the trail.
When they stop at night beside a stream of water, the packs are
removed and placed in a semi-circle. When the animals are ready
in the morning for their burdens, each mule marches up to his
own pack-saddle with unerring certainty, and there they stand,
like a regiment of soldiers on parade, with their noses close to their
own packs, and never move until all have the order given them
to fall in and march behind the bell mule. In driving along we
constantly meet the Indian burial-places, the dead having a roof
over their graves to protect them from the storms. Flags are flying
from flag-poles, and large dolls are frequently placed in front of
these roofs, sitting like children on the ground ; and white and
colored pieces of cloth are used to ornament these graveyards.
Often the Indians' winter abode is a beehive-like structure made
by making a framework of wood, filling in the interspaces with
small limbs and brush, and covering the whole structure with
earth. It looks like a great charcoal pit. All parts of it are closed
except a circular hole at the very top, which serves as a place of
entrance for the family and exit for the smoke, giving them at
the same time all the light they can get. A straight notched stick
is fixed in the ground at the bottom of the pit, which projects
through the hole in the roof and answers as a ladder for the family
to get in and out of this singular abode. In British Columbia
there are probably from thirty to fifty thousand Indians of various
tribes and names — some living almost altogether on fish, others
on animal food. The latter, I am told, are by far the most intelli-
gent and active, and being brave and warlike men, the fish-eaters
dread them, as they cannot cope with them in war. Here the
Indians but seldom molest the whites, while they perform much
of their agricultural and other work, and on the whole do it
satisfactorily. They, however, do not care to work for any length
of time among white people, preferring rather to spend their
money in their own way and about their own homes. The women
are degraded, immoral, and are made to bear the burdens of life
and act as pack mules, when marching without mules or horses.
We meet them by hundreds at every turn; but few of them speak
English, consequently I cannot converse with them.

The fishing on the Fraser and Thompson Rivers has interested
us very much. The Indians use hand nets and fairly scoop the
salmon out of the rivers. The " run of fish " was over before we
struck the fishing districts, so we did not see the salmon ascending
in vast numbers, millions together, but I stood by a party of fisher-
men near Yale and saw them scooping them out of the river by
twos and threes continuously. The men, boys and women have a
stage made overhanging the little whirlpools and rapid currents,

352 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

and on these frail structures they sit with their feet dangling
above the stream, and work by the hour, returning to the water
the smaller fish and killing the larger ones by a blow on the
head ere they throw them on the rocks surrounding the fishing
points. Eighty thousand were brought to the Yale canneries in
one day last week by the fishing Indians and white men. As we
got nearer Yale our progress was retarded by the rapid current ;
the river grew more narrow and deeper (from 150 to 200 feet),
but at last we reached Emery bar, one of the many " placers "
or gold washing sand bars between New Westminster and Yale,
and there we met the Canadian Pacific Railway. Mr. Onderdonk
and the principal citizens of the place (Yale) came down with an
engine and flat-car fitted up with seats cushioned and covered over
with red cloth, and we were then driven through Yale, a distance
of eight miles, passing into and out of three tunnels, one six
hundred feet in length. The inevitable address was presented to
Tupper, and amid much cheering we left the centre of the town
and were landed at Mr. Onderdonk's door from our car. Here
four rooms were provided for Tupper, the Clarkes, Robertson, and
myself. Everything was on a grand scale for the locality, or
rather, I should say a most comfortable scale. We lived as if we
were in New York. Mrs. Onderdonk is a nice, unaffected Ameri-
can lady, with a family of four children, and he is quite a young,
good-looking man, gentlemanly and well informed. At half past
one o'clock, luncheon being over, the famous Dufferin coach was
•at the door, built after the fashion of the old English mail coach,
with a top that could be opened or closed at will. Robertson and
Jones remained behind, to follow us the next morning by an express.
Mr. Onderdonk started with Tupper in his double-seated buck-
board waggon and two horses. I took the box seat with Steve
Lingley, the celebrated driver over the four hundred miles of
mountain road from Yale to Cariboo. The ladies, Schreiber,
Marcus Smith and Clarkes were inside. This coach was commodious
and very easy and was built specially to take Lord and Lady
Dufferin to Kamloops over this, the most dangerous road in the
world. A splendid team of four horses carried us along at a rattling
pace, over heights that would have made your blood curdle. Some-
times we were one thousand feet above the river on a road barely
wide enough to carry our carriage, and I trembled lest the horses
should shy or a bullock team should meet us. A string of pack mules
could be readily passed if we saw them in time to choose our
stopping-place, but a bullock team is more formidable, as the brutes
will crowd and push one another just at the moment of passing
our horses and carriage. Those difficulties were, however, over-
come. At the suspension bridge over the Fraser I got in with
Onderdonk, and Tupper entered the carriage. I found the buck-

ACROSS THE CONTIXE^T 353

board easy and comfortable. On arriving at " Hell's Gate," the
narrowest part of the river, we saw marked on the bank or moun-
tain side of the road, in red paint, the height reached by the water
in 1876. The river rose 140 feet and covered portions of the
road at least ten feet, stopping all travel and rendering it neces-
sary for the mails and passengers to take the high trail above the
road on mules' backs. Of course these terrible rises in the water
destroy much of the road, and even long after they subside the
road is impassable. On the opposite side of the river we could
see the line of railway progressing, tunnels being driven by com-
pressed air along the mountain heights where it would seem impos-
sible to make a road. Men were at work making a track above
the river at dizzy and perpendicular heights. They were let down
from the mountain tops on ladders with ropes attached above to
trees, and every shot that was fired in blasting rendered it neces-
sary that the men should get out of the way by running up these
ladders. Engineers made their measurements and took their cross-
sections, being let down in many places by ropes from above, and
there they would perform their work suspended, like Mahomet's
coffin, between heaven and earth, for hours and days — a break or
a slip of the rope and eternity was before them. One poor fellow,
an engineer, while at work thus, fell down the precipice and was
dashed to pieces. For many miles the line is a terrible under-
taking, but it is progressing rapidly, and there are ninety miles
now in course of construction and three thousand laborers at work.
Mr. Onderdonk's contract costs the Government $8,000,000. He
tells me that he has now in plant, houses for men, shops, stores,
horses, mules, oxen, acid manufactories, and gunpowder and
dynamite factories, $1,000,000 — all necessary to carry on the
work. . . . The Cariboo Road, along which I was driven, is
four hundred miles long and cost $1,500,000. Very many miles
of it were built at a cost of $15,000 per mile. At length we
reached " Boston Bar " — one of the celebrated gold-bearing sand
bars on the Fraser. Here a good dinner awaited us and we
remained all night, starting the next morning (Wednesday) after
breakfast. This day's experience was like the last as far as wild
and grand scenery was concerned and this terrible road. We
called at Mr. Keefer's camps, one of the Canadian Pacific engin-
eers. The camps were beautifully neat and very comfortable, and
were situated just at the spot where the railroad will cross from
the left bank of the river to the right. We dined at the village
of Lytton, at the point where the Thompson River forms a junc-
tion with the Fraser. With fresh horses we took the bank of the
former and passed away from the Fraser River, driving along
through magnificent river and mountain scenery. The Fraser was
muddy and yellow but the Thompson was green and its rapidly

354 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

running current beautiful to look at. On this road we fell in
with Mr. Onderdonk's teams in large numbers, some of them with
twelve mules, others with sixteen oxen and six spare ones follow-
ing, in case those under the yoke should get sore-footed or leg-
weary ; some carrying, in great high prairie waggons, flour, others
rice for the Chinamen; another team drawing a portable sawmill
to cut firewood for the different boarding houses, the road being
like a beehive. In one spot or portion of the road that a rifle shot
would very well cover, there were one thousand Chinamen work-
ing, massed together. Every white man as we passed him touched
his hat to Onderdonk, but John Chinaman and the Chinooks
(Indians) took no more notice of him than if he had been a
horse. In this neighborhood we saw landslides in abundance,
one of which not long since was so large and descended from such
a height as to carry a part of an oat field and an Indian burying-
ground clean across this broad river, and there left the oats to
grow and the dead men's bones to rest without being in the least
disturbed — fences, roofs, images and all. The river's bed was
changed for a time, but the fast flowing current eventually brought
it back, so that it now runs not far from its former site.

At 7.30 o'clock we reached this place (Chase's Bridge). Onder-
donk and I slept at one of his houses near the bridge, where I had
a splendid bed, with a rifle just over my head ready for action if
an enemy had broken in upon me. Lady Tupper and Mrs. Clarke,
with their husbands, spent the night at Mr. McLeod's house — one
of the engineers. Mrs. McLeod had written them to do so, and
this morning they have not accompanied Tupper and Clarke, who
have driven in (to join us here) the six miles from McLeod's.
They have determined to remain there and rest while we proceed
on to Kamloops. Our party is to be diminished by the return of
Schreiber, Marcus Smith and Boville (Trutch's secretary). The
single big coach will carry us all, and Mr. Onderdonk will remain
here for to-day and go back to Yale by coach, leaving his buck-
board and horses for us in making our return journey.

Savona's Ferry, at the junction of the Thompson River with
Kamloops Lake, Friday night, September 2nd. — We had a very
pleasant drive over a rolling prairie, getting along rapidly, as the
horses are in capital condition and very fast, and we change them
often. As we were driving past Governor Cornwall's ranch, his
brother Henry met us on horseback and asked us to drive up to
the house to lunch. He, the Governor, lives at Victoria, the seat
of government of British Columbia, and, only being recently
appointed, his wife and family have not yet moved down to Gov-
ernment House. They have a beautiful ranch. Henry is married,
and they live with two families of children in the one house. They
are English gentlemen, graduates of Cambridge — keep a pack of

ACROSS THE CONTINENT 355

fox hounds and hunt the fox of this country as they do in England.
We lunch with them again to-morrow. They have no neighbors
for many miles — no church — but live with a colony of Indians
around them who do their farm work. Occasionally a clergyman
in passing gives them a sermon in their parlor. If they wish to
visit a neighbor, the ladies mount their horses and ride thirty
miles to find one — that is, one with whom they can associate. Their
ranch is beautifully irrigated by means of a lake, which is fed by
a mountain stream. Without such irrigation here the soil will
not produce cereals, hay or green crop. Our four-in-hand stood
at the door awaiting the termination of the luncheon, and as soon
as the inner man was satisfied we were all aboard again. While
changing horses, six miles from Cornwall's, another address was
presented to Tupper and appropriately replied to. At 7.30 we
reached our present resting-place, Wren's inn, at the foot of the
Kamloops Lake, where a first-class dinner and good beds awaited
us. Here Tupper telegraphed to Charlie, who either personally
or through the Herald, will inform you that we are well, and state
that we were then near our journey's end as far as British Colum-
bia was concerned, and would at once commence our homeward
steps. In the evening Wren's three daughters and wife sang for
us, exceedingly well, and one of the young ladies played the violin
— an instrument made by her father — and did it very well. . . .
The proprietors of the lake and river steamboats had a very com-
fortable boat awaiting our arrival at Savona's Eerry to take us up
the lake and the upper branches of the Thompson River. This
place is called Savona's Ferry in consequence of a celebrated Cor-
sican brigand named Savona having left his country for his coun-
try's good and settled on this ranch. Mr. Bernard, M.P. for
Victoria, one of the proprietors of the " Peerless " (our stern-
wheeled steamer), was on board, with two of the local members,
and at 9.30 a.m. to-day we started for Kamloops town, which we
reach at 11.30 or 12 a.m. The boat steams seventeen miles an
hour, draws only eighteen inches of water when light, as she is
to-day, and three feet when loaded. The address was delivered
in the court house — introductions given to all Kamloops — a grain
mill and saw mill visited, a good lunch disposed of, and at 2 p.m.
we crossed the river to the Indian reservation and visited the
tribe resident there, about 500 souls. The chief was absent on a
trading trip to the " Crees " on the east side of the Rocky Moun-
tains, exchanging his horses for furs, and will not be back again
for some months — if at all, as the tribe to which he has gone
will only want a very small amount of provocation to scalp him.
We steamed up the south branch of the Thompson some miles,
returned again to the town and took on board all Kamloops —
ladies and gentlemen, who in honor of the event were bound to

356 DANIEL McKEILL PAKKER, M.D.

see the last of us at the foot of this beautiful body of water. I
enjoyed the sail and the splendid scenery of this district exceed-
ingly. Our dinner was awaiting us, and our long table was filled
to overflowing by the Kamloops contingent. A ball was extempor-
ized, a fiddler obtained, and they danced all night till five
o'clock a.m., whites and half-breeds, with an assembly of Indians
and a few Chinamen as onlookers, to add variety to the scene.
This hotel has a large ballroom attached to it — unhappily very
near my bedroom. Extemporized beds for the Kamloops ladies
occupied one end of it. There were five or six I think, and the
rest was occupied by the dancers. A ball, out here means busi-
ness. The last one held at this hotel commenced at 12 o'clock
on Monday morning and lasted continuously day and night until
12 o'clock the next Saturday. McLean, the fiddler, was the only
person present in whom I felt any interest. He is a villainous-
looking half-breed, whose father was killed not long ago by the
Indians, and a few months since he had three brothers hung for
a most diabolical murder in this neighborhood. Another young
man was hanged with them, named Hare. His step-mother, a
young and interesting looking half-breed, a widow, was one of
the Kamloops contingent at the ball. Her husband died in
France recently, having served two years in the Provincial Peni-
tentiary for stoning and doing his best to kill a man. I was asked
to the ball, but politely declined, so I cannot give you the details,
but one incident, worthy of note, was a pretty half-breed lady,
with well developed breasts, nursing her equally well developed
baby, in the presence of all the guests and the dancers. This)
was one of the little incidents mentioned to me this Saturday
(Sept. 3rd) morning by Mr. Jones. I went to bed, but sleep was
out of the question, as the music of the " fiddle " and the feet
was too much for my over-sensitive brain. One of the young
ladies of the hotel, Miss Jannie Wren, is known all over the
country, and is quite a character — well educated, ladylike and
amiable. She, although only twenty years old, is able to handle
a rifle, land a salmon or the immense trout of Kamloops, being
an expert fisherwoman, and is a most fearless rider and canoe-
woman. When men fear to cross the river, she will spring into
her canoe and paddle it across the stream, which runs at the
rate of six or eight miles an hour. Only a short time ago, in a
gale of wind, her father and other persons were crossing the
river on the ferry-boat, with a number of mules, when the fixed
wire rope broke. Some of the mules and men were drowned, and
her father was all but gone and was carried away down the
stream when she, paddle in hand, sprang into her canoe and
gave chase, overtook him before he sank and safely landed him
away down stream. All this was done when men were unequal

ACROSS THE CONTINENT 357

to the emergency. On another occasion, when a buggy and pair
of horses had left the hotel and gone for some time over the
road that we travelled, and Governor Trutch was in great need
of them, to carry him to Cache Creek, she ran without prepara-
tion, bridled her horse, leaped on his back without a saddle, and,
like the Indian women of whom I have spoken, started like the
wind, and, after a chase of miles, brought the carriage back for
the governor. Life on the frontier develops character and makes
the women bold and brave. Yet with all this, you would take
her for a refined and educated lady, who had seen much society
and mingled with the world, — simple and gentle and retiring in
manner. By the by, I should have said that there were two
ladies at the ball who did not require to " do something tem-
porary with a teapot " before the dancers. Jones tells me that,
having nursed their babes to sleep, they placed them in one of
the beds in the room, and then went to work in the dance.

You will be surprised to hear that both Tupper and myself
have gained nine pounds in weight since we left San Francisco.
The beef and mutton here are superior to anything I have eaten
elsewhere — in consequence of the peculiar feed of the country,
wormwood, sage-grass and bunch-grass. All our party are well.

Saturday Night, Sept 3rd. — Here I am again at Chase's
Bridge. Tupper has joined his wife at McLeod's, as has Clarke;
the rest of us are at the hotel here, where we have just dined,
and I am dropping you a line before getting to bed — finishing
up my journal. I know you Avill scold me for writing at such
length, but it requires no mental effort, and really gives me
enjoyment to be thus conversing with those I love so dearly. It
is just one month this evening since we parted, and during that
time I have travelled from 5,300 to 5,500 miles away from you,
but am again slowly nearing my dear old home. The " Douglas "
has been ordered to meet us at New Westminster on Wednesday
next, to convey us to Victoria, from which place we will sail for
San Francisco this day week. We all would have liked to remain
one week more in the Kamloops district, inspecting the rivers
and lakes of that district, which would have caused us to travel
in the " Peerless " about 500 miles further, but our Winnipeg
and Manitoba engagements will preclude that. I am longing for
letters from you and the dear children, and the captain of the
" Douglas " has been ordered to bring them over from Mr. Trutch's
office in Victoria, so they will meet me in New Westminster on
Wednesday. I am invited to dine with the Board of Trade on
Thursday next. We will be too late for the Mayor's dinner on
Wednesday, unless we should have a very rapid run, with a
strong, fair wind on that day in crossing the channel. We had a
very pleasant time at Governor Cornwall's ranch to-day, a splen-

358 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

did luncheon and most agreeable society. I enjoyed both very
much. A grandson of the late Hon. John Creighton, of Lunen-
burg, called Heckman, has just called on me. He is here on the
engineering staff of the railroad. We have not seen any rattle-
snakes, although they exist in large numbers all through this part
of British Columbia. Two were killed in Mr. McLeod's garden
and two more just outside his house this summer, and one was
killed at Cornwall's a short time since. The pig is the great
destroyer of the rattlesnake, and will hunt, kill and eat them.
Wherever the pig abounds these snakes become scarce. Hence
pork is at a premium and pigs plentiful, the more so because it
is the only kind of meat that the Chinamen will buy and eat.
There is a Mr. Tuck staying at this hotel, an engineer from St.
John, brother of Harry Tuck. . . As I shall be going

over the same ground traversed by me before, and referred to in
former letters, this will be my last long letter. You will hear
from me again at San Francisco. As Lady Tupper is not with
us, I cannot send her love. She was longing for you the day
we parted. And now, dearest Fanny, farewell. May God bless
you and ours and all we love, to whom convey very much love.
Friends mentioned before, please remember me to again, when
you see them.

Ever your loving husband,

D. McN. Paekek.

The Deiaed Hotel,
Victoria, B.C., Sept. 9th.

Felday Night. — We journeyed on to Onderdonk's at Yale,
where we were again lodged and looked after most hospitably.
Ran down stream to New Westminster, arriving there at 8 p.m.,
spent an hour or more with Mr. Rand at Homer's store, slept
on board the steamer, and reached Victoria and this hotel at
4 p.m. Wednesday, in time for the Mayor's dinner. Last night
we dined with about fifty persons, members of the Board of
Trade, and did not get home until one o'clock this morning —
a splendid dinner and any amount of speeches. The night previ-
ous I dined at Trutch's, where the Tuppers and Clarkes are
staying, and was asked to do so to-night, but declined. Senator
McDonald came to the wharf and asked me to stay with them,
but I did not care to be separated from our friends, and declined.
They live some distance from the city, and it would have been
troublesome to have been tied down to certain hours for luncheon,
dinner, etc. Tupper has received five addresses to-day and yes-
terday, and is being surfeited with them. The Nova Scotians
in this part of British Columbia, numbering 114 I believe, were

ACROSS THE COXTIKEXT 359

among the number, headed by Laurie and Rarnur. There was
no mail coming here and going East earlier than ourselves, so
instead of mailing this " up country " I brought it with me, and
to-morrow we will take in the " Dakota " the first mail for three or
four days past, and it will carry this letter; so on its receipt
you will be assured that we reached San Francisco safely. We
remain there, D.Y., two days, and then go to Omaha and St.
Paul on our way to Winnipeg, where we will probably be in
about a week from Friday next. I have had a large number of
callers, and have been busy in returning their visits, all to-day.
I will mail this to-night, so that it will reach you a day earlier
than if I carried it on to San Francisco. God bless you all.
Good night.

Your own husband,

D. MoB". P.

P.S. — In my haste I forgot to mention the delightful letters
received from you and the children — mentioning Frank, Mary
Allison, Mrs. Fane, Jessie Passow, Moren, Gibson, Lady Hoyle,
the Browns, the unanimous call to Mr. McArthur — the hay and
Mr. Mott's very generous attention (for which tender him my
special thanks), Wambolt and his father — the coal and Capt.
Trott and the " Minia," and the family of the Trotts, the Barkers,
the fire at Allen's tannery, Willie's visit to Wolfville, Hattie
Allison and her visit to Dartmouth, the Barker children, Mr.
Vermylee and party and his yacht "Atalanta," the Lewis's at Parrs-
boro, Mr. Saunders at dinner on Sunday, the raspberries in our
garden and poor Laura's rent and bleeding hands and arms,
Wilkin's death, John's departure for Baltimore. . . . Col.
Reid's appointment, Aunt Elizabeth's gout, Grant's bill for hay,
Rev. Mr. Lockhart — Libby Black's marriage, the weather and

fog of Halifax, the cotton factory. Mrs. and her present,

who to my mind is very thankful for small favors, Georgie Grant
and her intended visit, Gill Troop and the " Minia " (Willie had a
narrow escape from seasickness, fog and discomfort), George
Troop and Texas. Poor boy, I am sorry he is going so far from
a mother's love and care, but God can care for him. It may all
be right, and I hope it is. I liked the poor boy and shall miss
him. The 26th of August, will never be forgotten by me, my
dearest wife.

I have just enumerated the news and statements of your last
three letters, which, with two from Mr. Saunders and two Christian
Messengers from Mr. Selden, all reached me at Onderdonk's in
Yale, having been ordered up by telegraph. You may depend
on it I was glad to have such a budget, and retired to a little
mountain stream close to the house, where, on a comfortable seat

360 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

and under the foliage of a large tree, I devoured the contents,
and was thankful to God for His goodness in preserving your
lives and health. Remember me most kindly to the Passows, and
congratulate Jessie for me on the improvement in her health.
Tell them that I was at Lieut. Baker's to-day, returning his
visit, and saw Mrs. B. and her infant. . . . Mrs. Baker
is a daughter of Mrs. Jones and a niece of Ramur's. I saw
Mrs. Ramur yesterday at her beautiful cottage on the waters of
the harbor. She was a daughter of G. P. Lawson's. I trust
Moren, Lady Hoyle and Gibson are all doing well. Cambie, the
engineer residing at Yale, married Gibson's grand-niece. She
was a daughter of John B. Fay, and when residing in Wolfville
was a friend of dear Johnston's. . . . Lady Tupper is well
and has stood the journey well. We meet to-morrow on board
the " Dakota," and will all be together again until Winnipeg is
reached. Tupper never was better in his life. Again farewell.

Yours ever,

D. McN. Parker.

S.S. " Dakota," Pacific Ocean,
September 11th, 1881.
September 12th, 1881.
San Francisco,

September 13th, 1881.
My Dear Children:

I am in receipt of a letter from each of you. That from
Willie, as also Mary's, reached me yesterday, just as I was start-
ing from the Driard Hotel. In fact, the gentleman who was
driving me to Esquimalt to join our ship had whip and reins
in hand, and in a second more I would have left without them,
when a clerk from the Dominion office rushed up and delighted
my heart by handing them to me. The mail was not sorted, and
I was obliged to leave without getting the Christian Messenger
and Visitors which Willie forwarded to me, but I presume Mr.
Trutch will forward them to me at Winnipeg. We sailed at
3 p.m. from Esquimalt, the harbor of Victoria not being large
enough to accommodate a ship of the size of the " Dakota," and
thus far we have had a very pleasant passage, the sea being
smooth, but through the night the captain was obliged to run at
half speed in consequence of the fog in the Sound. To-day the
weather is fine and the temperature mild, and as we have no
minister on board, it is hard to kill the time without any Sunday
service or appropriate literature. The Sabbath is not weil

ACROSS THE COXTIXEXT 361

observed on the slopes of the Pacific, and in the interior of
British Columbia in many of the villages there are no places of
worship, and where there are preaching stations, generally speak-
ing, they are episcopal houses, and the clergyman's visits are
few and far between. In all British Columbia there is but one
Baptist meeting house, and that without a stationary minister.
It is in Victoria, and is the one referred to in a former letter
as being in debt, which debt Mother is expected to pay off by
her own subscription, aided by sums obtained from other sources.
The only passenger on board our ship known to me is a daughter
of the late Sir James Douglas, a former governor of British
Columbia. She is a widow, and full of fun. Her mother was a
half-breed. Col. Laurie was. I think, sorry to part with us. I
saw a great deal of him at my hotel, and have a letter for his
wife, who is to be at Chicago, bound for British Columbia on
the 1.9th inst. I hope to meet her on the train for a few
moments. The Colonel finds it very dull at Victoria, and will
be very glad to have her with him. All Victoria drove down
to Esquimalt to see us off. Lady Tupper's stateroom was flooded
with bouquets, and ours (Mr. Robertson's and mine) has a
delicious odor of roses, from a very large and beautiful bouquet
which adorns it — one of Lady Tupper's. Altogether, our visit to
British Columbia has been exceedingly enjoyable, and as far as
Sir Charles Tupper is concerned has been a continuous ovation.
Addresses and speeches are now ended until we reach "Winnipeg,
where I presume they will be repeated to a limited extent. How-
ever, as Sir Charles has been there before, I presume he will
not be beset with them, and possibly, as he ran the gauntlet only
last year, he and we may escape the infliction. I was very much
interested in Willie's most satisfactory statement of the doings
at the Convention. Altogether, the result of the meeting was
satisfactory. . . . Did he subscribe $100 for me towards
paying off the Home Mission debt ? I am very glad you have
seen and shown some attention to the ladies from the American
yacht, and that Georgie Grant has been over. Tell clear old
mother that I was struck with a remark in her letter in refer-
ence to " Amelia," of Salt Lake City. She expresses regret that
she should have married so soon after her husband's death, from
which I assume mother does not object to " widders " marrying
again, if they will only hold on for a little longer than six
months. It is very suggestive of a stepfather for you, as she
does not appear to take exception to the principle.

After reading Mary's letter, in which reference is made to
the cows, I was very much exercised in a dream about these
animals of ours. Thev were lost and I was hunting for them

362 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKER, M.D.

for hours on horseback, hut without success, while the family at
home were suffering for milk. It was a great relief to me to
find that it was but a dream. . . . Mary says you have
had but twelve really fine days since May 1st. How different
it has been with us. Every day has been fine, and while the
days have been a little warm for a few hours, the nights have
been deliciously cool.

San Francisco,, Palace Hotel,
September 13th.

At 7.30 p.m. we reached our hotel, and we are all congre-
gated together here on the same floor, in the same luxurious
apartments as we had before. Not the same rooms, but a story
lower, on the first floor. Our voyage was delightful. Every day
was pleasant, and on the whole I stood it well. The ship was
large and full of passengers, and among them we found a good
proportion of Ontario people. My services were called into requi-
sition, as a child on board was attacked with illness — probably
scarlet fever — and I was asked to prescribe for her. Col. Clarke
and I have been out taking a walk through the streets, and I have
•come in with a bag of grapes, three pounds for twenty-five cents,
and am having a feast. The California fruit is very abundant
and fine. The best pears in the world are grown here, and grapes
are sold for a mere song. I wish you were all in my room, and
we would have a bushel basket full, and have a feast and a sur-
feit. Figs, apricots, apples and plums are grown in vast quan-
tities, and are exceedingly cheap. A deputation of the Cana-
dians here has just called on Sir Charles, asking him to meet
them to-morrow night at the rooms of the Canadian Society, that
they may have the opportunity of hearing an address from him.
He has accepted their invitation, and no doubt will give them
a stirring speech. I did not find a letter or letters from home
on my arrival here, but hope to hear from you to-morrow. I
wrote to Mr. Saunders, on the " Dakota," in answer to two letters
from him, received at Yale. And now, my dearest children, I
must say good-night and good-bye for the present. My next letter
will probably be from Winnipeg, for which place we will leave
San Francisco on Friday next, the 16th inst., at 3 p.m. May
God bless and preserve you all in health and strength of body
and soul alike is the earnest prayer of your loving father. With
much love to darling mother and you all.

Ever yours affectionately,

D. McK P.

ACROSS THE CONTINENT 363

Car " Kewaydin," near Omaha, Nebraska,
September 20th, 1881.

Tuesday, p.m.
My Dearest Wife :

I write under difficulties, as you will perceive from the char-
acter of this scrawl, for even the Union Pacific does not run suffi-
ciently smoothly to enable a man to pen a letter so that it may be
readily deciphered. My object is merely to let you know that we
are thus far on our journey to Manitoba, and, thank God, I and
all my travelling companions are well — exceedingly well. Tupper
and I increased thirteen pounds each from the day we left San
Francisco for British Columbia until our return to the Palace
Hotel on the 13th inst. Schreiber and all have increased in flesh,
but the ladies will not go on the scales, dreading the result. The
fact is, the magnificent climate, the beef, mutton and fruit of
British Columbia, with absence from mental work, have done the
work of putting the flesh on one's bones in a way that Nova Scotia
could not have done. N.B. — Prepare to emigrate. On our
arrival at San Francisco every courtesy was extended. One gen-
tleman drove the party out to the Park and to the Cliff House to
see the hundreds of sea-lions that bask on the rocks by the cliffs
and roar like great bulls of Bashan. Some of them were very large,
weighing between two and three tons, and "Ben Butler" even
more than this. They are not allowed to be shot and are conse-
quently quite tame, and thus visitors become familiar with indi-
viduals and give them names. This drive altogether was about
sixteen miles, and we took it in a four-in-hand drag, the pace being
never less than ten miles, and the team was composed of magnifi-
cent horses. The next morning Dr. McNutt called and drove me
with a first-rate pair of horses many miles around the outskirts of
the city, and afterwards introduced me to his wife, the daughter
of a former mayor of San Francisco, a Dr. Kughn. I called and
saw the Davies again, and found them well. We had a letter
from " Lee Chuck," whom we met in Brtish Columbia, to his part-
ners in business in San Francisco. They treated us with the
greatest kindness and attention, and showed us all over " China-
town," introducing us to the principal institutions and features of
life among this peculiar and interesting people. We saw their
" joss house," or place of worship, their theatre, and lunched with
them, partaking of their usual food and drinking their tea, as
made by themselves, each cup being a teapot, or answering the
purpose of our teapots. On leaving them we were all presented
with some articles of Chinese manufacture, but of these and the
details of our visit to the Chinese in San Francisco I will speak
when we meet again — if God in His goodness should permit me
to return again to my home. We drove on Thursday to the village

364 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

of Berkely, beyond Oaklands, to visit the University of California,
with Mr. Ward, manager of D. 0. Mills' bank (Mr. Mills himself
being ill), lunched with him at his Oaklands residence and took
the steam ferry again at five o'clock for San Francisco. On
Friday at 3 p.m. we again crossed to Oaklands and re-em-
barked on board of our good car the " Kewaydin " for the run
east, and thus far have got along pleasantly and in safety, without
rain (indeed, we have had no rain since we left Canada) and with
a pleasant temperature, requiring two blankets at night. At mid-
day it is warm, but not oppressive, and there is always a pleasant
breeze. To-day the flags at the military and railway stations are
all at " half mast." The President is dead. The news reached
our train at two a.m. to-day, and sad news it is for the nation,
and still more for the widow and fatherless children. May God
sustain them in their sorrow and give comfort to the bereaved
family and nation! Lady Tupper is very well and as happy as
the day is long, so cheerful and full of fun — while Tupper is
overflowing with humor and is as frisky as a colt. I never saw
him in better spirits. He is enjoying the trip amazingly. Clarke
and wife are very pleasant indeed — very jolly and exceedingly
sociable. Robertson is one of the jolliest fellows you ever saw,
brimful of Scotch fun and anecdote, while Schreiber and Jones,
his secretary, are both first-rate fellows. Altogether a more
sociable or agreeable party could hardly have been got together
for such a journey. It only lacks one thing, my dear wife, and
that is your presence, to make it perfect, and this is the decision
and daily talk of the Tuppers and myself. But we have arranged
another trip, if we are alive and well; that is, to cross the con-
tinent by the Canadian Pacific as soon as that work is completed,
and you are to be the figurehead of the party. Stewart Tupper
joins us at St. Paul to-morrow and goes over the rest of the
journey with us. The storms on Lake Superior and losses of ships
and lives have influenced us to relinquish that part of our journey
and to change the programme. After going east to the lake we
shall return to Winnipeg and re-enter Canada by Chicago, run-
ning down there by the banks of the Mississippi. We will go up
to St. Paul by the banks of the Missouri. On Thursday next at
8 p.m. we hope to arrive at Winnipeg. We take all our meals
in our own car, Douglas, the porter, being a good cook. He cooked
on one occasion for the Princess for ten days. I must mail this
letter now on the car, so that it may go east to-day. How great
the difficulties of writing it have been you can judge from the
handwriting, but I hope you will be able to decipher it. Tupper
and wife send a great deal of love to the whole family. God bless
you all, my dear wife.

Your afft. husband,

D. McN. Parker.

ACROSS THE COXTINE2sTT 365

Winnipeg,, Manitoba,
September 26th, 1881.
My Dearest Wife :

After mailing my last letter, as we were running close upon
Omaha, the western-bound train was met, and I ran into the Pull-
man department and saw Mrs. Laurie for a moment and told her
that I had left letters for her at Ogden. She was looking well,
and was so astonished to see me, not for one moment anticipating
that I was on the road. I had not time to ask her any questions
about home or Halifax, as the trains only stopped long enough to
exchange mails — one or two bags — and then were off again in
desperate haste. . . . We crossed the Missouri River to
Council Bluffs, took tea at the Railroad Hotel and ran north by
another line of railroad (leaving the Central Pacific road) along
the eastern side of that river, and then diverged to the north-east
until we struck the Mississippi River and, crossing it by a great
and high bridge, entered St. Paul, Minnesota, a great railway
centre and a place of much importance. It is quite a new place,
but has a population of nearer sixty thousand than fifty. After
leaving Council Bluffs, for the first thirty miles we encountered a
terribly bad piece of road, and although I had a Pullman section
to myself and no upper berth, with a good large bed, I could not
sleep. On reaching Sioux City it improved, and the corduroy
structure was left behind. We saw a large amount of very beau-
tiful prairie land as we passed through the States of Iowa and
Minnesota. In the latter the wild duck were seen by the millions
in lakes, ponds and pools, close to the road, and they would not
move at the noise or near approach of the train. I could have
killed them with stones. A sportsman will frequently go out in
the morning here and in the back parts of Manitoba, along the
prairie districts, and shoot them by the hundred. St. Paul was
covered with mourning for the dead President. Flags were at
half mast throughout the entire country, and thousands of litho-
graphs of the President were to be seen surrounded with crape
or black cloth in the shop windows of all towns and villages, and
everywhere on the British side of the line flags were at half mast.
We inspected at St. Paul a huge Mississippi steamer such as you
have seen in illustrated newspapers, drawing not more than three
or four feet of water. Clarke and I walked over the enormously
high passenger bridge, so that we can now say that we have floated
on the Father of Waters, have crossed it by rail often, and once
on foot. On the afternoon of our arrival we drove all around the
city and inspected its public buildings, and saw much to admire
in its surrounding scenery. It is destined to be a vast city ere
many years. Stewart Tupper and a young lawyer named Camp-
bell, of Toronto— his special friend— with Mr. Pottinger of the

366 DANIEL McKEILL PABKEE, M.D.

Intercolonial, joined ns here (at St. Paul) and have been with us
since. Messrs Angus, Hill, Stephen and Mclntyre, of the Cana-
dian Pacific Syndicate, were at " Stephen," on the road owned
by them (the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba), so Tupper
and his wife went on with Mr. Eobertson at 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday
night by a special train in his own car to meet these gentlemen
on matters of business connected with the Canadian Pacific and
Vancouver Island railroads. We followed two hours later by the
regular train, that is, all the rest of us, and the next morning at
ten o'clock rejoined the Tupper s and went aboard our own car
again. At Emerson, which is only about fifty or sixty miles from
Winnipeg, we were met at the station by Mr. Fairbanks, son of
S. P. Fairbanks, Willie Esdaile, and a young Creighton who
married E. W. Chipman's daughter. We also had pointed out to
us the cottage once owned by Major Cameron (built by him) in
which Emma lived while he was carrying on the survey.
We reached Winnipeg at 7.30 p.m. Thursday. Stewart Tupper,
Campbell, Eobertson and Jones left us, and Mr. Stickney, the
superintendent of the Syndicate's portion of the Canadian Pacific,
attached his private car to ours and we started off for Brandon,
a town of six weeks' growth, at the point where the Canadian
Pacific crosses the Assiniboia Eiver. Owing to the non-existence
of a telegraph, to prevent accident we had to run this distance
very slowly, sending on ahead of us a trolley worked by men to
give notice of the approach of our train. We did not reach
Brandon until three p.m. Friday. The road was inspected by the
railway men and Mr. Stickney ; the new town was visited ; houses
of all sizes, hotels, shops and workshops were being rapidly built.
Tents were occupied by men with and without their families.
Delicate ladies were dwelling in these tents, and are likely to con-
tinue in them all winter for want of houses. New shops were receiv-
ing goods brought up by railway, and a " bang-up " jeweller's shop
was only opened the day of our arrival, where gold watches, chains,
brooches and almost everything in this line could be purchased.
You may depend upon it there was stir and life in Brandon.
Just at the railway bridge there was tied up to a tree
a stern-wheel steamer belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company,
whose vocation is now gone, as she was employed in carrying goods
and passengers on this river, which work is now performed by the
railroad. There is much valuable land on the prairie districts
between Winnipeg and Brandon, which is being occupied by
settlers and is now, I imagine, all taken up. A few miles back
from the railroad the soil, we are told, is magnificent and yields
for years from twenty-five to thirty bushels of wheat to the acre —
simply for the plowing. From fifty to sixty bushels of oats to
the acre is the common yield. To get land now men must push

ACROSS THE COXTIXEXT 367

west as the railroad progresses, and it is being advanced with mar-
vellous rapidity. The Rocky Mountains and the Bow River
country will be reached in two years from this date. The Syn-
dicate is composed of able men — all of them " live men," and no
grass grows beneath their feet. Last year they cleared one and a
half millions of dollars, or more, by their St. Paul, Minneapolis
and Manitoba road, and will clear more this year. Our passage
across the bridge of the Assiniboia River was delayed some hours
by a wrecked train (a goods and working train). Our return to
"Winnipeg was consequently late, and our intention of visiting
Portage la Prairie, a town of over two thousand inhabitants, was
frustrated by this delay, and the rain, which poured down upon
our train as we neared the place. The inhabitants were greatly
disappointed, but those of them who were at the station assured
Tupper that if he would run for that district he would not have
a single opposition vote. The Grit doctor and leader of the oppo-
sition made the statement in our car. The Pacific Railroad and
the energetic action of the Syndicate in pushing forward the work,
together with Tupper's decision as to the route, has effected a
great change in favor of the Government in Manitoba. Portage
la Prairie was to have been passed by, at a distance of eight miles,
by the Mackenzie route, but a shorter and better road brings it
six or seven miles nearer the Portage, and this has greatly pleased
the inhabitants. "We reached Winnipeg late at night, took another
engine, left Mr. Stickney behind, as he had to go at once to St.
Paul, kept his private car and porter with us, and then ran through
a beautiful but rocky country to Rat Portage — the Lake of the
Woods. It rained nearly all day, but on our arrival there was a
small steamer awaiting us, and we crossed the lake in her to Mr.
Jennings', the engineer of this section. Some of the party con-
tinued up the lake in the steamer, but Tupper and wife, Mrs.
Jennings, Mrs. Clarke and myself embarked in a large birchbark
canoe, paddled by two half breeds (skilled men) and Mr. Fleming,
a young engineer, son of Sandford Fleming, and ran down the
lake to the Winnipeg River (the outlet of the Lake of the Woods),
which river runs about forty miles or more and then empties
itself into Lake Winnipeg, and this again empties (after running
north a long distance) into Hudson's Bay. At the rapids of the
Winnipeg River we disembarked, took a trail by the river's side
and followed it to a beautiful waterfall. Although the rain was
pouring down and the trees were wet, we would not have missed
the falls and the beautiful scenery for anything. The ladies got
their India-rubbers cut to pieces and were quite wet, but on our
return to Jennings' cottage by the lake-side there was a huge fire
lighted to warm us, and this, with a cup of hot tea, prepared us for
our return to our car, where dinner awaited us, and our party was

368 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

enlarged and our table taxed to its utmost capacity by the addition
of Mr. and Mrs. Jennings, Mr. Fleming and three railroad con-
tractors. After dinner Mrs. Jennings left for her home and we
started for Winnipeg, going over the road slowly so as to enable
Tupper and Schreiber to carefully examine the work. Two mag-
nificent iron bridges were examined, which look sufficiently stable
to last for centuries. On our arrival here all left the car but the
Tuppers, Mrs. Clarke and myself. Stickney left his car and
porter, and it is placed at my disposal, so I occupy it and eat in
the " Kewaydin," instead of going to a very inconvenient and
overcrowded hotel. Col. Clarke did not go either east or west
with us, as he was desirous of going out on the prairie to shoot
prairie chickens and ducks, but the weather being wet we found
him in our car shortly after our arrival on Saturday night. I
am very glad that we did not go further east than Rat Portage,
as riding on horseback sixty miles — or perhaps a hundred — and
then being tossed about at very considerable risk to life, at this
season of the year, on Lake Superior, would have been no joke.
We were satisfied with the journey toward Lake Superior, made
by rail — 130 miles — which, with 145 miles west to Brandon, has
given me a pretty clear idea of what kind of a country Manitoba
is, and what the engineering difficulties are on the eastern end of
the line to Prince Arthur's Landing — four hundred miles from
Winnipeg, this being the distance which the Dominion Govern-
ment have to cover with a railroad east of Winnipeg. That west
the Syndicate have to pay for and construct. This, with 127
miles from Emery's Bar on the Fraser to Savona's Ferry on the
Kamloops Lake, and ninety miles from Emery's Bar to Burrard's
Inlet on the Pacific Coast, is the amount of mileage to be con-
structed by the Dominion Government and to be handed over when
completed to the Syndicate. This body of men are doing their
work better than the Government would have done it. They are
building a work which they are to own and operate in all time to
come, and hence it is in their interests to make it a durable struc-
ture. They have in some places taken up the work of the Gov-
ernment and replaced it (modifying the route) by a more per-
manent and better road. ... I never saw such a muddy
place as Winnipeg — it is really dreadful. Its population is
assumed to be from fourteen to twenty thousand. Gas works,
water works, and a street railway company are likely to be estab-
lished ere another year passes. Everything in the shape of land
in and about the city is inflated. Corner lots 66 by 100 feet in
the best localities are selling for $15,000. Two miles out of town
lots 40 by 120 are bringing $175 and $180. Speculation is rife.
Everybody is excited. Some are making fortunes, and many will
be ruined. Every visitor goes in for land — but as I have had

ACROSS THE CONTINENT 369

enough of such speculations in Dartmouth I am not likely to
embark my capital in any such wild undertakings. I leave to-mor-
row, Tuesday, the 27th inst., for Emerson, alone, that I may have
an opportunity of visiting the Mennonite settlement — Russian
immigrants, who, to the number of about 6,000, occupy many
square miles near that town. They live in small villages, ranging
in distance from Emerson from twelve to thirty miles. Tupper
will pick me up there on Wednesday morning. George Almon
is living at Emerson and I shall probably see him. ]STewton
Esdaile is here in Winnipeg, engaged as a house painter. I told
Willie to tell him to call and see me, but he has not yet turned up.
Poor William West, we learn by telegram, is dead at last. A fine
man and a good citizen has been taken from our midst, for whom
I have long entertained a sincere regard. I was delighted to
receive your letter enclosing one from dear little Nornie. I was
greatly pleased to learn that she had seen Cape Breton under such
pleasant circumstances. It was a most agreeable surprise to me.
Uncle Martin was very kind and generous, as he always is. It
was certainly a cheap excursion, but if it had cost the dear child
ten times the amount it did I should gladly have paid it to have
given her the pleasure of seeing the Island and our eastern coun-
ties. I am glad that Willie asked his young friends Welton and
company to stay with him during the Exhibition period. The
Weltons were always kind and hospitable to him, and it will be
giving them some slight return for their past attentions. I hope
the Exhibition passed off well, but I fear the Commissioners were
not ready for the opening when the day arrived. . . . Give
much love and many kisses to our baby, and tell her papa often
thinks of and prays for her. I am much pleased to hear that she
is doing so well at school and likes it. Congratulate our dear
boy from his old father on the event of his having reached his
majority. I am glad you gave him such a useful present, and
pray God he may long live to use and enjoy it. You speak of
Mary as if she had been at Bellevue. Give her very much love
from me, and tell her I hope she has enjoyed herself during my
absence. It always affords me great pleasure to know that my
dear ones are happy and enjoying the comforts and blessings of
this life while attending to the higher and more important things
of the life to come. . . . We expect to spend next Sunday in
Chicago, and then will stop, possibly a whole day, in Toronto, after
which I shall hasten home, where you may expect to see me the
last of next week if God so wills it. I will telegraph you after
reaching Quebec, or from Campbellton. With love to all at Belle-
vue, the Lewis's, all at Frank's, and with any amount of love to
you, my dear wife, and our dear bairns,

I remain ever your affectionate husband,

D. McN. Pakker.

370 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

It is terribly cold, and the fire in Stickney's car has not yet
warmed the air, so my fingers are nearly frozen. I am sleeping
under as many blankets as I would have in midwinter. I have
fairly galloped over the course, as jockeys say, in my haste to
finish my letter — my last letter to you ere we meet at home. As
usual I fear you will have difficulty reading it.

After the conclusion of this western tour, the Dominion
Pacific Herald, of New Westminster, published on November
9th, 1881, the following editorial:

" The Results.

" The visit to this province of Sir Charles Tupper and party does not
seem to be altogether barren of good results. Much was expected
directly from Sir Charles, as a prominent member of the Dominion Gov-
ernment; but it is questionable whether more may not be expected in the
way of what may be termed reflex results. After all, British Columbia
only requires to be properly known to be appreciated; and to be
appreciated is to have her chief wants — population and capital — supplied.
The readers of the Herald have already seen what Sir Charles Tupper
and Mr. Andrew Robertson have had to say about our province since
returning home. It will be remembered that the Hon. Dr. Parker, of
Halifax, was one of the party. The Doctor is one of those unassuming,
shrewd men who say little but think much, and it is quite clear from
what he has had to say about the Pacific Province since returning to his
home in Nova Scotia, that he took in a great deal, considering the short-
ness of his visit and the limited opportunities for observation he enjoyed.
Having, on his arrival in Halifax, been subjected to the interviewing
process, he said of Columbia:

" ' I think it is destined to become one of the greatest provinces in
the Dominion. The beauty of the climate is wholly indescribable. I
have travelled a good deal in Europe and America, but I never enjoyed
as fine a climate anywhere. I do not think any country in the world can
show a finer climate than this, at once so invigorating and so uniform.
Of winter they have but little, and cattle never require to be housed in
any month of fhe year. I believe its resources to be very great. At
present they are very largely undeveloped, but enough has been done to
show that the province possesses the elements of wealth in abundance.
As for it& agricultural resources, though it may in many places appear
to be what Mr. Blake called it — " a sea of mountains " — still mountains
imply the presence of valleys, and these valleys and very often the
mountain sides as well, are very fruitful. British Columbia is a very
big province, and it is a very great mistake to suppose that because it is
traversed by two mountain ranges, it does not nevertheless possess a
large amount of fine farming lands. And not only is the soil very pro-
ductive where worked, but the products of the soil are of an excellent
quality. The finest plums I ever tasted in my life were raised at a
place called Boston Bar, about 25 miles up the Praser River from Yale.
For grazing, the capabilities of British Columbia cannot be surpassed.
It must in the near future become a great stock-raising province. Its
mineral wealth is believed by competent judges to be unlimited. At
present gold, coal and iron are the only minerals worked, but silver,
copper and many other minerals are known to exist. But undoubtedly
the two greatest resources of British Columbia are her lumber and fish.
These are practically unlimited, and while a considerable export in both
is already established, it is not a tithe ?f what the province is capable

ACROSS THE CONTINENT 371

of producing. With her vast mountain sides covered with Douglas pine,
oak, spruce, cedar and hemlock, and her immense inland waters and
coasts teeming with salmon, halibut, cod and oolachan, and all other
kinds of fish, no one can entertain a doubt as to the capability of British
Columbia to give remunerative employment to a large population.
Already fish-canning has become an industry of no small importance —
some ten or twelve canneries being in operation a few miles from New
Westminster. On the whole, my opinion of British Columbia is that it
is a magnificent province with v*.st resources, and that the Dominion
made no mistake in acquiring it, and will make none in having it
opened up and connected with the rest of Canada by means of the
Pacific Railway.' "

From the foregoing letters on Canadian travel in 1881, and
from what is quoted by the British Columbia paper from the
" interview," which appeared in the Halifax Herald, can be esti-
mated something of the quality of the writer's far-seeing confi-
dence in the future of his great country. He rejoiced in it.
Elsewhere through these pages will be found other traces of a
patriotism wider still. He was in spirit a robust Briton, loving
the Mother Land and cherishing ideals for Greater Britain that
were imperialistic. He was always a close student of British
public affairs at home and abroad. Few were more fully in-
formed in detail, or had a more comprehensive and philosophical
grasp of all history, current questions and events which concerned
Britain's world-wide Empire. I do not know if he ever voted
in Britain, but I find that in 1880, at least, he was a registered
voter for Parliament, in the constituency of the University of
Edinburgh. His sympathies in British politics were always with
the Conservative party.

CHAPTER X.

THE CLOSING YEARS OF ACTIVITY.

" We men who in our morn of youth defied
The elements, must vanish; — be it so!
Enough, if something from our hands have power
To live, and act, and serve the future hour."

— Wordsworth.

Early in the spring of 1882 occurred the removal of the
offices from 70 Granville Street to 95 Hollis Street, the prop-
erty of the Nova Scotia Permanent Benefit Building Society, of
which he was the President. For some years he occupied the
two front rooms on the second floor; but afterwards the two
ground floor rooms on the north side. These latter were his last
offices, and from the front door of this building the old shingle,
as he called it — a brass plate from which the legend " Dr. Parker,
Surgeon," had been well nigh erased by half a century of fur-
bishing— was finally removed on August 1st, 1895, to find its
place among the things that had been.

The year's routine in 1883 was broken by a visit to Rich-
mond and other parts of Virginia, where the latter part of winter
and the spring months were spent, for the benefit of my sister
Mary's health and his own. While there he studied extensively
the history of that State, the biographies of many of its cele-
brated men, the American Civil War, from the Southern point of
view, and the history and conditions of his religious denomination
in Virginia and the South generally. The profuse notes of these
studies, containing a great fund of information and displaying
the critical and philosophical side of his mind, though of deep
interest, are not sufficiently elaborated to publish.

At Richmond he devoted some time to professional investi-
gation in the hospitals, and at one of the colleges he delivered an
address on sanitation, which, if one may judge from his notes,
appears to have been thorough, informing and timely. He was
much interested in the work of negro education, which he was
able to observe closely at the Richmond Institute, of which his
old friend, Dr. Charles H. Corey, of New Brunswick, was the
president.

In the spring of 1884 he accompanied his family to Cam-
bridge, Mass., where I was a student at Harvard, and he there
spent a fortnight's vacation which was very enjoyable to him.

372

THE CLOSING YEAKS OF ACTIVITY 373

At that time he approached nearer to the state of doing nothing
than I had previously known him to do, though, of course, there
were new medical works to be read and much writing to be
accomplished.

The year 1885, in the medical history of Halifax, was sig-
nalized by the dispute between the Medical Board of the Pro-
vincial and City Hospital and the Government's Board of Com-
missioners of Public Charities. Its cause was that the latter
Board, in violation of the by-laws and regulations provided for
it and in disregard of a regular competitive examination there-
under by the Medical Board, of two candidates for the position
of House Surgeon in the Hospital, arbitrarily appointed the
inferior competitor to the office, thereby reversing, or at least
nullifying, the result of the lawful medical examination which
placed the man appointed fourteen points behind the successful
competitor. The Charities' Board assigned as a reason for this
extraordinary breach of law and propriety, that " this Board,
believing either gentleman qualified for the position, exercised its
own judgment in making the choice." This rude assumption
of " patronage," in disposing of such a hospital appointment,
by paltry politicians, besides being illegal, was a direct insult
to the members of the Medical Board, and they would not con-
sent to have their honor compromised by being made parties to
such an objectionable procedure. They resigned on May 12th.
My father, who was senior consultant on the staff, was then out of
town, but tendered his resignation separately, shortly afterwards,
by letter, in which he said, " that the person filling the position of
house surgeon should have the entire confidence of his superiors
as to integrity, industry and the disposition to obediently carry
out their orders and instructions. To some extent the house
surgeon holds in his hands, as it were, the reputation of his
superiors; and if this fact is not morally appreciated, it can
readily be imagined what results might follow in the wake of an
inefficient and unfaithful officer. An officer appointed in opposi-
tion to the rules and regulations of the hospital, and to the finding
of the professional examiners of the competitors, cannot but be
influenced by the thought that he is to a large extent independent
of the medical staff, and is rather the subordinate of the board,
to whose good offices alone he is indebted for his position."

He bore the leading part in the controversy with the Govern-
ment which followed, urging " the utter impossibility of any staff
being able to work to the advantage of the patients with a house
surgeon forced into that position and his appointment reaffirmed
contrary to their protestations." In one of his letters to Hon.
W. S. Fielding, the Provincial Secretary, he wrote : " All the
Medical Board require in relation to the professional management

374 DANIEL McNEILL PARKEK, M.D.

of the hospital is what has been conceded by the trustees and
directors of similar institutions elsewhere."

He never accepted another appointment to this Government
hospital. The interests of patients had been wrongfully and
forcibly subordinated to the interests of political partizanship, and
sorrowfully he accepted this condition of affairs. The particulars
of this dispute, which, owing to the hospital (after due notice by
the Medical Board) being deprived of a medical staff, and owing
to the refusal of any other members of the profession of standing
to accept positions on the Board, and owing also to the suspension
of the Halifax Medical College, which followed, created consider-
able public feeling, are minutely and faithfully stated in a pam-
phlet published by the Medical Board for the information of the
public, signed by each of the twelve members, beginning with my
father; and this statement of the case has never been challenged.

Apart from the customary full tide of professional work, the
years at this stage otherwise passed uneventfully until the month
of March, 1886, when, with my mother, he made what proved to
be his last visit to Great Britain. The physical ailments, which
in the end triumphed over his body enfeebled by age, were now
becoming more acute, and he wished to consult physicians in
London. The visit was timed so that the Colonial exhibition in
London could be seen. Sir Charles Tupper was then High
Commissioner for Canada, and a long-standing promise to visit
him and Lady Tupper in their London home, on Cromwell Road,
for the renewal of " old times," could now be redeemed. Accord-
ingly the first three weeks in England were spent with them.
Then followed visits to Leamington, near the historic castle
of Kenil worth, to see Mrs. Shuttleworth ; to Southport, to see
another niece of my mother, Mrs. Dr. Davies ; and a stay at Vent-
nor, in the Isle of Wight, for more favorable climatic conditions.

A trip to Portsmouth was made, specially to see the old
" Victory." From what has been said, at a previous page, of my
father's strong admiration for Nelson and his achievements, it
can be readily imagined with what peculiar reverence he trod
the decks which the footsteps of his hero-admiral had pressed;
with what various emotions he examined the parts of that his-
toric flagship more immediately associated with Nelson's life on
board, with his conduct in the memorable culmination of his
career at Trafalgar, and with his affecting and triumphant death
in the hour of that great victory.

Cardiff, in Wales, was visited in June, that my father might
<see the grave of his brother, Captain Frederick H. Parker, who
had died, at the age of thirty-three, on December 3rd, 1858, during
a voyage which he undertook in the " Walton " in the summer of
that year, after his recovery from the illness for which he was

THE CLOSING YEAES OF ACTIVITY 375

invalided home in September, 1857, as previously related. My
father wished to be satisfied that the monument to his brother's
memory, and his last resting-place, were being properly cared for.

At Liverpool the same fraternal office was performed at the
grave of his brother, Captain John Nutting Parker, of the " Pem-
broke," in the cemetery at Anfield Park. John's death occurred
September 26th, 1868, at the age of forty-seven.

At the opening ceremonies of the Colonial Exhibition, my
father and mother were fortunate in having seats reserved near
those occupied by the Queen and the Royal family; and there
for the last time he saw the face of his august Sovereign, for whom
he always cherished a feeling of the deepest reverence.

While at Cromwell Road he met for the last time his old
fellow-student and life-long friend Van Sommeren, who had
retired from the army with the highest medical rank, and was
living at Red Hill in Surrey. He was invited by Sir Charles
Tupper, with others, to meet my father at a dinner, on which
occasion the pleasures of the re-union of these three Edinburgh
students of the forties can readily be imagined.

Early in June my parents went to Edinburgh where they
went into lodgings for three weeks, at 42 Minto Street,
and had Sir Charles and Lady Tupper as their guests for a
week. This was a week of pure enjoyment to the old fellow-
students, returned to the latest scene of their educational work,
which had been shared so much together. Old haunts were
re-visited, old days lived over again, and, for the time, they
dwelt in happy reminiscence. Writing to my sister Fanny from
Edinburgh on July 21st, my father says: ". . . . Sir
Charles and I visited our old lodgings in Salisbury Street, where
we spent a good part of our student life in Edinburgh, and the
old scenes and places so familiar to us over forty years ago.
Our teachers of that day are all dead, save one, and not one of our
friends at whose houses we were wont to visit can be heard of,
outside the cemetery. Dr. Gordon's widow, I believe is alive,
but where, I cannot find out. We visited the Grange and Dean
Cemeteries together, and there found the names of many of
them. We propose leaving for London early next week.
Sir Charles and I will run down to Newcastle for a day to pay a
visit to Capt. Arthur, a gentleman who was very kind to us when,
as youths, we were in this country. We knew intimately his
nephew, Dr. Bowman of Calcutta, who was our fellow-student,
and I once spent seven weeks at his hospitable home in the neigh-
borhood of Newcastle.* He is now a good deal over eighty years

* This must have been in a summer recess during his medical course
at Edinburgh.

376 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

of age and quite infirm. We will visit and see him for a few
hours, for the last time in this world. Afterwards I hope to
spend two or three days with Mrs. Robinson and her sisters
(the Nuttings) and then shall go to Dr. Hunt's in Sheffield for
a few days, if I am well enough." After telling of a visit to
an exhibition then being held at Edinburgh and of meeting there
Jane Agnes Black and her Scottish cousins, the Misses Lorrimer,
who dined with the party, this letter, in referring to home matters,
has these characteristic playful touches : " ' When the cat's away
the mice can play.' So I presume you are all taking advantage
of my absence in the mornings, and but seldom see the sunrise.
My ' gallops ' are pretty well over now. I am a very deliberate
old man when I take my walks abroad ; and you will be quite equal
to keeping up with me should I be spared to return. ' Worse
and more of it.' I objected to Tom taking possession of my
house, and now I hear you have a ' Jack.' There will be war
to the knife on my return, and I should not be surprised if there
was, about that time, a sound as of mewing and barking arising
from an oat bag in the neighborhood of the end of my wharf.
' Keep it dark,' though."

The proposed visits mentioned in this letter were made.
At Twickenham, on the Thames, he saw for the last time Mrs.
Robinson and the Nuttings: Ellen, widow of Colonel Robinson
of the Royal Engineers, and Misses Mary and Isabel Nutting —
all daughters of his great-uncle, James Walton Nutting, and
the favorite cousins of his boyhood.

At Edinburgh, though no friends of the student days could
be found, friendships of the Edinburgh sojourn of 1871-3
remained, and were renewed.

A third grave, here in Edinburgh, more precious in memory
even than the other two visited in England and in Wales, was
seen, and fondly lingered over many times — and for the last time.

Sir Andrew Clark, one of the physicians whom my father
consulted in London recommended for him a courae of the,
waters of Homburg in Prussia. So, after leaving Edinburgh,
three weeks were spent in Homburg, and, on the route, Paris,
Strasburg, Cologne and other places were visited. On landing
at Calais on this occasion, he had his pocket picked on the gang-
way of the boat, his sole experience of the kind, but as it was
his habit to distribute his money among various pockets, while
travelling, the loss was not serious.

Upon returning to England, two weeks more were spent in
London with Sir Charles and Lady Tupper, when my father
received further medical treatment and advice, in the course of
which, as during the earlier visit, he revived friendships with
the foremost men of his profession in the metropolis, and lost no

THE CLOSIXG YEAES OF ACTIVITY 377

opportunity for improving his knowledge of the latest things in
medicine and surgery, for the benefit of patients at home.

Shortly before sailing from Liverpool for home, late in the
autumn, visits were paid to my mother's nieces, the daughters of
the late John A. Black, at Birkenhead, and to her niece, Mrs.
Samuel Adams, daughter of her eldest brother, Benjamin E. Black,
at Kingstown, near Dublin, Ireland.

From this, his last visit to the Old Country, my father
derived infinite satisfaction, and its reminiscences never ceased
to delight him. He was also greatly benefited in health by the
travel and rest, as also by the medical treatment he received.

At this period the family were spending the winters in Hali-
fax, not far from the Hollis Street office, in order that my father
might escape the rigors of the season as far as possible, and
especially the exposure incident to crossing the harbor in the ferry
boats, in which he was often obliged to remain outside in bad
weather to attend to his horse. But the hotel and boarding house
life was not congenial to him, and he hailed with delight the
advent of the spring, when he could return to the spacious quarters
at " Beechwood " and the comforts of his own home. I have
rarely known anyone who enjoyed the pleasures of home and
domestic comforts as did he, — anyone to whom home meant so
much. I think this practice of city hibernation began about 1884,.
but was not submitted to for more than five winters. His
domestic spirit then rebelled against this alteration in his habits
of life, and he concluded that he could better tolerate exposure to
inclement weather, even though this aggravated his bodily ailment,
than forego the comforts and joys of his home life in the winter
months.

About this time it was that he began gradually to unburden
himself of directorships in companies and of private trusteeships,
which were growing too onerous for his impaired strength.
On the 6th of January, 1888, for instance, he resigned his place
on the directorate of the Halifax Gas Light Company, after
many years' service. About the same time the Halifax and
Dartmouth Steam Boat Company, of which he was President,
sold out its entire undertaking, and this proved to him a salutary
relief. To fiduciary offices of a charitable or philanthropic char-
acter he adhered longer, giving to them the preferential claim
upon his services.

His physical vigor, as yet, was not impaired to any great
degree, for I recall that in January, 1888, he accompanied me
to Kew York, where we remained two weeks, and that during
this time he was able to undergo considerable exertion with but
little pain or inconvenience. However, he was obliged to take
the greatest care of himself, and at this time it may be said he
had become almost a valetudinarian in his habits of life.

378 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

In December, 1888, the Maritime Medical News was instituted
by some of the junior medical men of Halifax. To show his sym-
pathy with the enterprise he contributed to some of the earlier
numbers. In the second number (January, 1889) is found a
communication from him on the hygienic features of the Halifax
sewerage system, and in other early numbers there are references
to cases at the Provincial and City Hospital with which his name
is associated either as operator or as consulting surgeon. But
he was not connected with the paper, and deemed it better to leave
this work to the care of younger men. This was the second ven-
ture into the field of medical journalism in Halifax. The first
journal, conducted chiefly by the late Dr. W. B. Slayter, was
published about twenty years earlier, but as it did not receive the
full support of the profession, survived only two or three issues.

In 1888 was organized also the Nova Scotia Branch of the
British Medical Association, meeting in Halifax, monthly. My
father was its President in 1890. By the fourth annual report
(September, 1891), it appears that up to that time this Associa-
tion had held its meetings in his offices, which, owing to the growth
in membership, had then become too small for the purpose.
He was a frequent attendant and contributor to the discussions
at these meetings. From a report of proceedings at the meeting
in January, 1891 (incidentally found in the Maritime Medical
News) I extract the following brief summary of his remarks in
a discussion of a paper on " The Relation of Membranous Croup
to Diphtheria."

" Hon. Dr. Parker regarded membranous croup and diphtheria
as identical. He attached great importance to the well established
fact that mucous, unlike serous membranes, do not, when inflamed
by simple irritants, pour out upon their surface a fibrous mem-
brane. When such occurs a specific agent plays a part. As a
special point he referred to a case where he was called upon to
assist a medical man in performing tracheotomy. The operator
believed the case to be one of membranous croup. Dr. Parker
dissented, believing the case to be one of diphtheria, though there
was not the slightest sign of membrane visible, nor evidence of
the malady in the neighborhood. The son of the operator was
placed in charge, and sat up with the child the first night. A few
days after, symptoms of diphtheria set in and unfortunately proved
fatal ; nearly all present were familiar with the circumstance.

" He referred to a paper he read many years ago describing
an epidemic of what was certainly diphtheria which extended
from Maine to Florida in the early part of the last century.
He also described an epidemic of putrid sore throat which pre-
vailed through the western part of Nova Scotia about fifty years
ago. His knowledge of the matter was obtained from very reliable
authorities."

THE CLOSING YEAES OF ACTIVITY 379

Another example of his contributions to tbe work of tbis
Association is found in tbe News report of tbe meeting of Febru-
ary, 1891, at which be discussed cases of femoral aneurism wbicb
be bad bad in bis practice. But tbese illustrations of bis connec-
tion with the work of the Branch of the British Medical Associa-
tion must suffice, though it may be added that because of bis great
experience gained through so many years of practice and assiduous
study, he was deemed one of its most valued members, and could
illumine any subject under discussion by his contribution to it.

On July 3rd and 4th, 1889, the annual meeting of tbe Nova
Scotia Medical Society was held in Halifax, when my father took
a prominent part in tbe discussions, and read what proved to be
his last prepared paper delivered at any meeting of medical
societies. It dealt with " Cbeloid " — a rare malignant disease —
and aroused much interest in tbe profession. This paper was
published by request, in tbe Maritime Medical News for Novem-
ber, 1889. In the second Appendix ("B ") to this Memoir will
be found two of his earliest public addresses, the first of them
dating back to the twenty-third year of bis age. In another
Appendix ("C") will appear this last of his formal addresses,
delivered forty-three years later.

Many earlier papers read by him before various medical
societies have not been preserved, perhaps, in part, because there
was no medical journalism in tbe Province to perform such an
office for the profession. At tbis stage of bis life, when physical
infirmity was imposing limitations upon his energies, be was
passing on such work to his juniors, but almost to tbe end of his
career, be continued faithfully to attend the meetings of various
medical organizations, when tbe place of meeting and the state
of his health would permit, and was an attentive and sympathetic
hearer, while contributing out of his experience and knowledge
to the impromptu discussions upon tbe papers which were read by
others.

Some few years before tbis time, in tbe old Waverly Hotel,

formerly tbe residence built by Chief Justice Blowers, at tbe

corner of Barrington and Blowers Streets, had been established

the Victoria Infirmary, a private institution under charge of

Sisters of Charity, for reception of patients requiring surgical

or medical treatment. In 1887 the name was changed to " The

Halifax Infirmary" in consequence of the Government having

changed tbe name of tbe Provincial and City Hospital to that

of the " Victoria General Hospital," in commemoration of the

Queen's Jubilee. In 1889 the staff of the Halifax Infirmary was

as follows :

" Consulting Surgeon — Hon. D. McN. Parker, M.D.
"Attending Surgeons — Edward Farrell, M.D.; John F. Black, M.D.;
William Tobin, M.D., and W. B. Slayter, M.D."

380 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

My father, I think, occupied this position on the staff from
the inception cf the Infirmary. He filled it for some years. After
his retirement from practice, upon visiting the fine addition to the
building, on the south, when completed, the enthusiastic reception
tendered him by the Sisters of Charity eloquently testified to the
affectionate esteem in which he was held by this managing body
of the Institution.

The Maritime Medical Association, having for its constitu-
ency the three Maritime Provinces, was formed in 1890, under
the presidency of the veteran Dr. William Bayard of St. John, N.B.

My father, who was among the promoters of this organization,
attended its first annual meeting, at St. John, on July 23rd, 1891,
and was there elected its second president. In the month preced-
ing he visited Toronto, Providence and Newport (Rhode Island)
on a vacation tour with my mother.

In August of this year he attended at Moncton, N.B., the
annual meeting of the Baptist Convention of the Maritime Pro-
vinces, and, on the way inspected properties for the Nova Scotia
Permanent Benefit Building Society and Savings Fund, at
Amherst, Maccan, the Joggins Mines, as also at Moncton. This
duty for the Building Society was one he frequently performed,
and it may be said here that in valuing real estate, anywhere, he
was remarkably accurate and successful. This was but one phase
of a general business capacity which made him what might be
termed a many-sided man. After the Convention he visited his
sister Sophia, then living with her daughter, Mrs. Dr. Warneford,
at Hampton, N.B. Family visits there and at Amherst, where
lived the widow and children of his brother Foster, were made
as often as opportunity would permit.

On the 11th of March, 1892, he severed his long connection
with the Nova Scotia P. B. Building Society and Savings Fund,
upon which occasion the late Mr. Robie Uniacke, one of the
trustees of the Institution, spoke as follows, according to the
minutes of the meeting of Trustees and Directors at which the
resignation was presented:

" Mr. Uniacke said that he could not permit Dr. Parker to
retire, without expressing to him, on behalf of the Board of
Trustees, — and he also spoke for their associates, the Directors, —
the high appreciation they had of his services in t!he interests of the
Society, and he could not help feeling, whatever action the Board
might take, that the withdrawal of Dr. Parker was a serious loss
to the Society.

" Identified as he had been with it for many years, his ripe
experience of its working, coupled with his broad knowledge of
this country and its interests, had made him an almost indis-
pensable factor in its success. He felt that it was fortunate that
this Society should be presided over by one whose strict integrity

THE CLOSING YEARS OF ACTIVITY 381

and high moral worth were so conspicuous. The financial value
of Dr. Parker to the Institution was in itself of no slight
importance.

" Mr. Uniacke referred to the very pleasant relations that
had always existed between the retiring President and the officers
and members of flie Institution; and he trusted that the same
harmony of feeling and unity of action which Dr. Parker had done
so much to promote and maintain, would ever characterize the
Society."

The following resolution was then passed:

" Whereas the Hon. Dr. Parker has resigned the office of
President and Director of this Society, — Therefore resolved, that
this Board regrets exceedingly parting with their esteemed Presi-
dent, and desire to minute their high appreciation of the deep
interest he has always taken, and the earnest efforts he has ever
put forth to promote the welfare of the Institution, and we trust
that while parting from him officially, we may still have the much
valued assistance of his extended knowledge and wise counsel."

This tribute from business colleagues when severing relations
with them is given place here, as typical. There were many
other such expressions.

The second annual meeting of the Maritime Medical Association
was held at Halifax on July 6th, 1892, but my father, in conse-
quence of ill health, was not present to perform the duties of
President. He had reluctantly gone away in June for a season
of rest and recuperation, and after a brief stay in Cambridge,
Mass., had found a place of retirement in the village of New
London in the mountainous region of New Hampshire, where for
three weeks or more he escaped the oppressive heat of an unusually
trying summer.

He had served for twenty years as a member of the Pro-
vincial Medical Board, and for three years previous to this time
was its President. Before leaving home on this occasion of rest,
he felt it incumbent upon him to reduce his labors by resigning
this office. In connection with this resignation, the following
letters were exchanged between him and the Secretary of the
Board, Dr. Lindsay:

" Provincial Medical Board of Nova Scotia.

"Office of Registrar,

"241 Pleasant Street,

" Halifax, N.S., June 26th, 1892.

Hon. D. McN. Parker, M.D., etc.,

" Dear Sir, — I have been directed by the annual meeting of
the Provincial Medical Board held on Wednesday the 20th inst.,
to express to you the regret which each member feels in that you

382 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

have found it necessary to sever your connection with the Board,
and to convey to you the thanks of all for your long and valuable
services to the profession, both as a member and more recently
as its esteemed President.

" Hoping that change of scene and rest will do much to restore
your bodily vigor and that you may yet be long spared to witness
the results of your past labors .in raising the educational standard
and in promoting the dignity of our honorable profession in this
Province,

" I am, with much esteem,

" Yours very truly,

"(Sgd.) A. W. H. Lindsay."

" Dartmouth, June 28th, 1892.
" A. W. H. Lindsay, M.D.,

" Sec'y Prov. Med. Board of Nova Scotia,

" Dear Doctor Lindsay, — I beg to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter of the 26th inst. relating to my retirement from the
Provincial Medical Board of Nova Scotia, which letter gives
expression to the kind friendly feelings entertained for me by
my Brethren in the Profession, with whom I was so long associ-
ated in the management of the important interests entrusted to our
care by the Legislature and Government of the Province.

" At your next meeting will you be good enough to return them
my warmest thanks for this brotherly token of remembrance.
Both as an ordinary member and President of the Board I have
to express my gratitude to my late colleagues for the harmonious
character of our meetings and for their hearty and manly co-opera-
tion in carrying on the work of the institution, often under cir-
cumstances of a trying character, when, not infrequently, duty
demanded that justice and the law should be sustained at the
expense of personal feelings and friendship.

" Humanly speaking, the years that remain to me will be
but few, but while here I shall continue to take a warm interest
in the work of the Provincial Medical Board.

" I cannot conclude this brief note without expressing my thanks
to you personally for the able, laborious and satisfactory manner
in which you have ever performed the duties pertaining to the
office of Secretary ; and I may add that, for the years I occupied the
President's chair, I could not help feeling that you were the
chief foundation stone, upholding an institution connected with
which are most important public and professional interests.

" Yours truly,

" (Sgd.) D. McN. Parker."

The time had now arrived when physical disorders were becom-
ing more insistent and acute. Occasional brief periods arrived

THE CLOSING YEARS OF ACTIVITY 383

when he could not leave the house. At times, the motion of a
carriage would cause him pain, and exposure to cold increasingly
affected him. His general vigor of body began to decline, and he
was more easily fatigued. His vision, too, was becoming impaired.
He now found it necessary to visit New York yearly for medical
treatment and relief by specialists.

These circumstances he calmly accepted as warning intima-
tions that soon he must lay off the harness, disarm, retire from
the ranks and leave it to younger men of his profession to close up
the gap and continue the conflict with sickness, disease and death.
His had been a strenuous share in this war for many years,
and it had well-nigh worn him out. He had achieved a large
measure of success as a leader in the work of his life. He had
earned the right to his discharge now, when there was some
expectation that he might enjoy a few years of a restful old age,
though the happiness of these years might be qualified by bodily
infirmities. It is truth to add, he could retire from active service
bearing an escutcheon which never bore a stain.

The years 1893 and 1894 saw him engaged as usual, but with
a little less activity, and apart from the customary routine of
duty and occasional short absences from home for change and rest,
or to attend some professional or denominational gathering, there
seems nothing of special interest or importance to record con-
cerning these years. In the summer of 1893 he spent a vacation
season in eastern Nova Scotia with my sister Fanny. Her remin-
iscence of this outing will be found in the Appendix " A."
In October of that year, as visitor for the Baptist Convention of
the Maritime Provinces, he inspected the Baptist educational
institution at Grand Ligne, in the Province of Quebec.

The first day of August, 1895, would mark half a century from
his entrance upon his professional career. He resolved, just
when I cannot tell, to round out that period of practice and retire
on that date.

In the spring of 1895, he took quite an extended vacation with
a family party. The main purpose of this was that he might
receive some special medical treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital
in Baltimore. I am indebted to Rev. Dr. Chute, of Acadia
University, who was then pastor of the First Baptist Church,
Halifax, for the following letter written to him by my father
from Baltimore, at that time:

" Baltimore, M'd., April 14th, 1895.
" Dear Brother Chute :

" I notice by the Herald of last Saturday week that you were
to fill your own pulpit on the following Sunday ; so I suppose you
are again at home and at work as usual.

" I do not expect that you would be mentally rested by your

384 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

brief sojourn in Stewiacke, as, if I understand you correctly, you
intended burdening yourself with the preparation of some liter-
ary work for publication. Possibly a variety of this nature may
tax you less than the ever-recurring preparation of sermons for
our people. However, I would advise you when you revisit your
old home, to make the days spent there days of mental as well
as physical rest. I trust you found your mother well. Doubtless
the occasion was one of great pleasure to you both. I can well
remember the enjoyment it gave me in the lifetime of my parents,
to drive once — generally twice — a year to my old home in Hants
County. It did me good to see and know that these visits added
to their happiness. With me these pleasant drives terminated long
years ago — when they were called from earth to heaven.

" We embarked on the ' Carthaginian ' on Thursday afternoon
between 5 and 6 o'clock, with the expectation of sailing shortly
after that time, but the night was a wild one, and a storm of
snow came upon us, so that we did not cast off from the wharf
until after six o'clock the next morning. Our passage to Philadel-
phia was exceedingly rough and tedious, and instead of getting into
port on Sunday afternoon, we did not get off the ship until 3 p.m.
on Monday. We were all sick and greatly shaken up, but my
poor wife suffered more than all the rest of us put together, and
is only now beginning to feel ' herself ' again. This ends our
journeyings by sea. I had hoped to have crossed the Atlantic
once more with her, to have visited again the grave of my poor
boy in Edinburgh, and taken a last farewell of many old and dear
friends resident in Great Britain; but after the experience of
our short voyage of the other day, I feel that I can never ask her
to accompany me; and I cannot go withoiit her.

" Our first Sunday after landing was spent in this city, and
remembering that my old friend, Dr. Ellis, only recently retired
from the Eutaw Place Baptist Church, I assumed they would
be likely to have an able man as his successor. So I found the
place. The house was small and unpretending and the congre-
gation far from large. They have no regular pastor yet and the
man who filled the pulpit was a Chinese missionary — not long
returned from his sphere of labor. He was slow but sensible —
and did not take up the subject of missions at all ; and this we
regretted, as, no doubt, he could have given us much in connec-
tion with this matter that would have pleased and gratified us all.
Today — Easter Sunday — Mrs. Parker, Miss Black and myself
went to a very large Methodist church, which I think will accom-
modate 1,500 in its pews, and it was literally packed. The organ
and singing charmed us. The pastor, who is Dr. or Mr. Townshend,
gave us a fair sermon in connection with the Eesurrection. It was
historic and all the main features of that great event were briefly

THE CLOSING YEARS OF ACTIVITY 385

dwelt upon. While it contained no new matter, the subject was
well arranged and put together, so as to interest the congregation.
The floral exhibition and new bonnets must have diverted the
attention of many. Large sums of money were wasted on both.
The Methodist body is large in Baltimore and apparently rich.
Here, Mrs. Parker's grandfather preached in the early days of
his ministry. The church attended by us belongs to the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church — but aside from the flowers and bonnets
I saw nothing to remind me of Episcopacy. The church struc-
ture, however, is grand and elegant as well as capacious. People
here don't know much about the Baptists and I see but few places
of worship that they recognize as belonging to our body.

" I have been under the charge of Dr. Osier — formerly of
Montreal, who is the senior physician of Johns Hopkins Hospital
— an old friend and both able and practical. He and a Dr. Brown
of the same hospital have very kindly been advising me as to
treatment and care in the future, as well as now.

We go to Washington next week for a few days, where the
weather is finer and warmer than here. I still feel the changes
in the weather and temperature very much, and enjoy sticking
my feet in the fire. I hope in Washington to be able to leave off
some of my winter toggery.

" From Washington we will go to Xew York for a time, and
when you can change the temperature in Halifax, our flag will
be again the Union Jack. I shall be glad to be back once more
in my own home in Dartmouth. Moving about the world in
former years had great attractions for me, it was an educational
process, and even hotel life was enjoyable; but those days have
passed away, and the earthly home, which should be an emblem
of that which is eternal, is yearned for, and even thus early in
my absence from it I am looking forward to my return to it
with pleasure. The three score years and ten are passed, and in
two weeks from to-day, if I live to see it, I shall have entered
upon my 74th year. My life, which has been a long one, has, for
rapidity, passed as a shadow, and that which remains of it, when
the end shall be present, will be shorter still; but, thanks be to
God. which giveth us the victory — through the blood of His Son —
I hope and am assured that I then shall change the fleeting for
that which is enduring, an eternity of happiness; and shall be
forever with the Lord, my Saviour.

" I trust this will find you and yours happy and well, and our
church in a good, sound and prosperous condition. I constantly
have you and them on my mind, and heart, and my daily prayer
is, that God may ever be with you and them. Mrs. Parker and
Fanny join in love to Ella and yourself.

" Ever yours faithfully,

25 "(Sgd.) D. McX. Parker."

386 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

In June, I joined the party on their homeward way, in New
York, where, as in Boston and elsewhere on the return tour, he
was in unusually good health and spirits, and entered heartily into
the sight-seeing and other pleasures of the occasion. I well remem-
ber his unconcealed and almost youthful amusement when we
induced him to make the voyage around the ponds in Central
Park, New York, on one of those absurd " swan-boats " to be
found there. In September of that year I was again with him
in New York, when we both were subjects for special medical
treatment.

The incidents connected with the first of August, 1895, must
be left to a separate chapter.

CHAPTEK XI.

THE JUBILEE.

" He is the happy man, whose life even now
Shows somewhat of that happier life to come."

— Cowper.

On the morning of the first day of August, 1895, fifty years
from the day when he was capped " Doctor " at Edinburgh, he
went to his office for the last time, and there spent the forenoon
superintending the removal of his library and other effects to his
house, including the time-worn brass door-plate (his " shingle ")
which had a long history of its own.

Into the emotions and reflections of those significant hours
it is not for us to enter.

His surgical instruments, with few exceptions, he distributed
among brother practitioners and the hospitals. Other profes-
sional paraphernalia followed the same course.

His medical confreres, aware of his intention, had signified
their earnest wish to celebrate the day by waiting upon him with
congratulations and an address. Much as he deprecated any
public notice of his retirement, this graceful compliment could
not but be accepted. This event I record in a typical press notice,
of the day following; adding to this an example of other press
references of the time, expressive of public opinion as to my
father's life and character. One other such reference will be
found in my paper of earlier date. I deem it well to let other
men praise him, that his posterity may the better understand
what their ancestor was, in his profession and in character.

The Halifax Morning Chronicle thus reported the presenta-
tion of the address:

HON. DR. PARKER'S JUBILEE.

Fitly Remembered Yesterday by the Physicians of Halifax and Dart-
mouth— Address Presented — Dr. Parker's Reply.

As already announced Hon. Dr. Parker yesterday completed fifty
years of active practice in the medical profession, in which he has
attained eminence as~a physician, won the esteem and confidence of his
professional confreres and the goodwill of all with whom he came in con-
tact, whether in his personal or professional relations. The occasion was
deemed a fitting one by the medical men of Halifax and Dartmouth to
congratulate Dr. Parker on reaching his professional jubilee, and to

387

388 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.i).

tender him a token of their esteem. Consequently, yesterday afternoon,
the following medical men waited upon Dr. Parker, at his residence in
Dartmouth, for the purpose of conveying to him their congratulations in
a united and formal manner: Drs. Farrell, Lindsay, Dodge, Black, Camp-
ben, Chisholm, Curry, Trenaman, Jones, Cow, Hawkins, Puroell, Kirk-
patrick, Goodwin, Silver, Mader, Murray, Somers, Tobin, W. F. Smith,
Anderson, Milsom and Walsh. Drs. Fitch and DeWolfe also called in
the afternoon, hut were unable to remain, while a number of others were
prevented attending owing to pressing professional engagements.

Dr. Farrell, (by request, occupied the chair, stated the object of the
gathering, and in choice and appropriate language conveyed to Dr.
Parker the greetings of himself and his confreres. He then called upon
Dr. Jones, who read the following complimentary address:

" To the Honorable Daniel McNeill Parker, M.D., M.L.C., etc.

" Sir, — We, the medical profession of Halifax and Dartmouth, can-
not let pass the fiftieth anniversary of your graduation day without
giving expression to our great appreciation of the eminent professional
attainments and personal qualities which have characterized your career
during the past half century.

" In all branches of the science and art of medicine great advances
have been made during this period of time, and it is a matter of sincere
gratification to us to know that amidst all these evolutions you have
ever been found in touch with the times; a diligent student in a pro-
gressive science.

" The appreciation of your skill and knowledge has been shown by
your medical brethren in the fact that you have held all the high offices
in the medical societies and organizations of this province, as well as the
presidency of the Dominion Medical Association. Your interest in these
associations has been active and practical, and their growth and stability
have in many cases been due largely to your fostering care.

" In the course of a very busy life, devoted to the practice of medi-
cine, during which you have been the guide, counsellor and friend of
many families in this community, you have found time to be identified
with the medical charities of this province. You occupied for many
years a prominent position on the original commission which governed
the affairs of the provincial and city hospital and of the poor's asylum
and of late on the medical boards of the Victoria general hospital and
the Halifax dispensary, always unceasingly giving your services to the
relief of the suffering poor.

" Not only have those charities directly connected with our pro-
fession been benefited by aid and counsel from you but also the institu-
tion for the deaf and dumb, the home for the aged, the industrial school,
the school for the blind, and others, with the growth of which you have
been closely identified.

" Though the cares and responsibilities of your profession have been
great, nevertheless you have not failed in your duty as a citizen, but
have occupied for many years an influential position in the councils of
your country. Amongst your other public services, you have guided and
guarded all legislation referring to the medical profession in such a
painstaking and careful manner that v/e feel the high and satisfactory
position occupied by the profession to-day in Nova Scotia is due largely
to your untiring zeal and rare good judgment. These services and
those in connection with the provincial medical board are fully appre-
ciated by medical practitioners from one end of Nova Scotia to the other.

" We can hardly express how much we esteem you for the kindness
and consideration always manifested to your juniors. You have ever
been ready to advise and help the young practitioner beginning his pro-
fessional career; and there are not a few men amongst us who can never
repay their debt of gratitude.

THE JUBILEE 389

" It is also felt that the dignified position taken by you in relation
to professional ethics has resulted in much benefit; and we hope that
your example will be our guide in the future and will be long followed
to the well-being of the public and of the profession.

" We beg that you will convey to Mrs. Parker and your family the
assurances of our heartfelt wishes for their continued welfare. And in
conclusion we assure you of our desire that you may long be spared to
enjoy in your voluntary retirement from professional duties that repose
and dignity which fitly crowns the declining years of a life so full of
duties and honors.

" Dr. Parker, who was visibly affected by the spontaneous and cordial
greeting extended to him, read a somewhat lengthy but deeply interest-
ing reply, in which he reviewed the history and advances of medical
science in this province, recalling many well-known names of those who
have passed away, reciting the difficulties under which medical men
labored in those comparatively primitive times, and giving many inter-
esting reminiscences of his laborious and busy life of fifty years as a
practising physician. . . .

" Refreshments were then served to the company by the Doctor and his
family, and after some time ©pent in social conversation, good-bye was
said and the company separated, all being pleased that they had the
opportunity of testifying their respect and esteem for ' Father ' Parker,
who has now definitely retired from the active work of his profession."

My father's reply to the address, as afterwards published in
the Maritime Medical News, was as follows: —

Gentlemen :

You have done me the honor to present me with an address,
on the occasion of the expiration of the 50th year of my pro-
fessional life. I have listened with interested attention to your
warm, friendly and courteous utterances, and have to express my
heartfelt gratitude to you for these expressions of your feelings,
to one who has for a longer or shorter portion of this half-cen-
tury, been a co-laborer with many of you.

If, during that lengthy period, I have been instrumental,
even to a very limited extent, in advancing the interests of the
Medical Profession, or the community in which I have spent the
greater part of my life, I am thankful that the opportunities
were given me to co-operate with you, and others not of our
profession, in striving to give relief and comfort to those who
required it; and to impart an education to those who have
unhappily been deprived of the ordinary means of receiving
instruction.

At the outset you must permit me to say, and to say emphati-
cally, that your estimate of my career and work, is far in excess
of that which I should be credited with. Kindness of heart and
personal friendship have prompted you to put the case more
strongly than I (who am not infrequently in the habit of look-
ing in upon the inner man, and surveying my past work) can
subscribe to.

The nature of the occasion would seem to suggest that I should

390 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

make some reference to my earlier professional life, and the
environments of the men who practised in this city and province
fifty or sixty years ago; and, at the same time touch briefly on
some of the changes that have occurred in the profession, and
professional work, in more recent times.

As was the custom, in the days of my boyhood, I was inden-
tured, as a Student of Medicine, to Dr. William Bruce Almon,
father of Senator Almon, than whom, both as a physician and a
citizen, no man in the province stood higher. He was health
officer of the port and in the performance of his duty, when visit-
ing an emigrant ship, contracted a malignant form of fever, and
in 1840 died at the comparatively early age of fifty-two. He fell,
as years after John Slayter fell, on board the cholera ship
" England," in the service of his country.

Fifty years ago in July, I received the Diploma of the Royal
College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, and on the first day of August,
1845, I graduated as a physician at the University of that city.
The effort to obtain the qualifications necessary to commence the
practice of medicine and surgery being over — the " capping "
ceremony, and annual address to the graduates — full of sound
advice, and kind expressions — having been brought to a close, I
was cast adrift from college life (with a large number of young-
men from other lands) and thrown upon my own resources.

I well remember the reaction that followed the excitement of
that day; when alone in my apartment, I discussed with myself
the outlook for the future.

I had been drinking at one of the principal fountains of medical
knowledge in the mother country, and, taking kindly to the work,
had greatly enjoyed the opportunities there afforded me. Nothing
would have given me greater pleasure, or done me more good,
than to have continued under the educational wing of my " alma
mater" for a longer period, and there taken advantage of the
opportunities afforded one, of pursuing post graduate studies ; with
the ulterior object of possibly making that city my professional
home.

I was fully impressed with the fact, that notwithstanding the
long coveted licensing parchments were then in my possession,
I in reality had, after years of hard work, but an imperfect know-
ledge of several of the branches of the profession of my choice —
and this prompted an ardent desire for more. But ! — and how
often this little word of three letters crosses the track of man
and his desires — but, " I was not born with a silver spoon in
my mouth," and consequently ere long found myself on the
Atlantic ; and in accord with Horace Greeley's oft -quoted sugges-
tion, " Young man, go west," I came west, returned to my own
land, and promptly entered upon the active duties of my pro-

THE JUBILEE 391

fession in this city — a general practitioner, as were all rny con-
freres of that period. The population of Halifax, then, was
only about 18,000 and of the province 250,000, The only sub-
stitute for a hospital was the Poor's Asylum, a large brick struc-
ture, standing near the corner of Queen Street and Spring Garden
Eoad, and in its immediate neighborhood, facing on Queen Street,
was the old Bridewell or House of Correction, the ancient fore-
runner of Boekhead.

It was at this Poor House, under the direction of Dr. Almon,
that I began {' to learn the rudiments," drew first blood, and ere
long became the Phleobotomist of the house. Those were the days
when the lancet (now an almost forgotten surgical instrument) was
in constant use.

It was several years after this that " Mount Hope Asylum,"
for the care and treatment of the insane in Xova Scotia, was com-
menced at Dartmouth. When its southern wing was completed,
a large number of those who were most likely to be benefited by
treatment, in a modern asylum, were removed from the Poor
House to Dartmouth. Prior to this, the home for the poor of
Halifax was the only place within the province where the insane
could be cared for and retained ; and it was a happy day for these
unfortunates, when the foundation stone of this much desired
and longed for institution was laid.

In addition to the Poor House, there stood on Granville Street,
immediately in the rear of the ground now occupied by the Bank
of Montreal, a very small institution known as the Halifax Dis-
pensary. It was in a small room, in an old and diminutive house,
and its work was done on a small scale. Dr. Gregor was instru-
mental in establishing it, and for years was in sole charge. I was
associated with him for a short time ; but in such quarters, with a
grant of only £50 annually for all purposes, not much work could
be accomplished, and when it was destroyed by fire the loss to the
community was unimportant.

This was in time succeeded by another on the west side of
Argyle Street, near to Duke Street. It was better equipped, on
a larger scale, and did more satisfactory work ; but it did not live
long.

In 1845 the Poor House and Dispensary !No. 1 were the only
institutions connected with medicine and surgery in the city or
province, and I need hardly add that the facilities for acquiring
pathological knowledge, or for growth in any other department of
our science, were extremely meagre.

Xew standard works were comparatively few, and medical
periodicals were not then, as now, poured down upon us. Post
mortem examinations were rarely held, because of the almost uni-
versal hostility of the outside public. The stethoscope was begin-

392 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

ning to be used, and was possessed, for practical purposes, only
by the younger men.

The microscope, in its relations to professional research, was
not in those days an instrument in practical use in Nova Scotia.

The ophthalmoscope and other scopes for illumining and bring-
ing into view some of the dark recesses of the human organism
may have been dreamed of, but they were not then begotten.

Before my day there had been a medical society or societies in
Halifax, but incompatibility in its professional material rather
than lack of ability brought it, or them, to an untimely end. I
am glad to say that no such results have followed the more recent
establishment of such organizations in our city, and as far as I
know the work of the county societies of our Province has not been
thus interrupted. To-day we have a "Halifax Branch of the
British Medical Association." For many years past an efficient
Provincial Society has existed, but a union of this with similar
institutions in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island has
resulted in the formation of " The Maritime Medical Associa-
tion," which in the two or three years of its existence has brought
to the front several men of marked ability who had already estab-
lished local reputations, but hereafter their names and professional
standing will be recognized over more extended areas. Many
years ago a futile effort was made in this city to establish a medical
periodical, but the field was too small and the staying powers of the
originators insufficient to keep it afloat. But the Maritime Med-
ical News, under the patronage of the Maritime Medical Associa-
tion, has, I feel assured, " come to stay," and although in bulk not
large, it is really a very useful and well conducted journal, and
one that should be sustained by its comparatively large constituency
in the three provinces.

Things are wonderfully changed since the " forties " opened
upon us, not only as regards the principles and practice of medi-
cine and surgery, but also in the provisions made by the Govern-
ment and the public for the treatment, comfort and welfare of the
sick of our province and city. To-day we have one of the best-
equipped hospitals in the Dominion, sufficiently large for present
requirements, and with unoccupied ground surrounding it that
will admit of almost any extension. Here, I am free to say, much
advanced and important work is being done, by a very proficient
and able professional staff.

In former years much of our surgery — difficult and complicated
cases especially — went to the United States, in consequence of the
want of such an institution ; but this drain has been largely inter-
rupted by the marked success which has attended the operative
treatment of the gentlemen in charge of the surgical side of the
house.

THE JUBILEE 393

A few years since, an efficient and well managed institution,
known as the " Halifax Infirmary," was established by an organ-
ized body of Roman Catholic ladies — Sisters of Charity — in which
a large number of medical and still greater number of surgical
cases have been treated with very satisfactory results. In the
latter department abdominal surgery has predominated. This
private hospital has also performed quite an important part in
staying the United Statesward current in serious surgical cases,
many of which, without it, would have crossed the line, in conse-
quence of the great objection our people have to enter a public
institution here at home.

Again, I am glad to say that we have now a well equipped
public dispensary, where valuable work in the several departments
of medicine is performed within the institution, and also, in con-
nection with it, at the homes of the poor and helpless.

I have said that all the medical men in Halifax when I joined
them in 1845 were general practitioners. Specialists did not
exist. Many of them did their own surgical work, and in country
districts, far removed from the city, they had occasionally to per-
form important operations alone, unaided and under the most
unfavorable circumstances ; as was the case with Avery on one
occasion, on the eastern shore, in a hut or very small house, in the
middle of the night, with only a " tallow dip " or candle to give
him light to operate on a strangulated inguinal hernia. The man's
life was saved by the promptitude and pluck of the surgeon. Dis-
eases of the eye, ear and throat, in short, all cases presenting them-
selves, were treated by them.

Operations for cataract fifty or sixty years ago, when the
patient could afford it, were generally performed by Guthrie of
London, who is credited with saying that a man would destroy
a bushel of eyes before he became an expert and successful operator.

The late Dr. W. B. Webster, of Kentville, was the first surgeon
in Xova Scotia, if I am correctly informed, who successfully oper-
ated for cataract. It was in 1836. jSTow we have several oculists
in the capital, and the operation is of frequent occurrence.

Operative surgery may be said to be almost a specialty here, as
the more important and serious cases are dealt with by a few
men.

But few of the surgeons now living in Xova Scotia can have
anything like a correct idea of the difficulties which had to be con-
tended with in operative surgery half a century ago. In pro-
tracted and painful operations the patient had often to be strapped
to or held on the table by continuous muscular effort on the part of
assistants.

It was soo.i after operating on a distressing case of this char-
acter (which operation I was obliged to finish on the floor, as it

394 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

was impossible to restrain and keep a man of his strength quiet
on the table from which he had thrown himself), that I became
aware of the fact of the discovery, at Boston, of sulphuric ether
as an anaesthetic.

Lawrence VanBuskirk, a dentist, practising in Halifax at the
time, as soon as he learned that ether was being used by inhalation
there in practical dentistry, with commendable enterprise visited
Boston and familiarized himself with its use. On his return,
having a case that required amputation of the femur, I went to
VanBuskirk's office, and, after discussing the matter fully, asked
him to administer ether to me, that I might personally have some
knowledge of its action. He consented; and very shortly the
exciting stage was upon me, and I was floating through space, sus-
pended or upheld like Mahomet's coffin, between heaven and earth.
My actions alarmed him, as he was yet but a novice in its adminis-
tration, and he did not carry on the experiment to its full results.
The next day he, VanBuskirk, gave my patient ether, and in two
or three minutes she was unconscious and insensible to pain. The
limb was amputated, the wound dressed, and the poor woman taken
from the table to her bed; and while my professional friends and
I were discussing the prompt and happy results which had attended
the use of the anaesthetic, a voice came from the bed, " Give me a
little more, doctor, a little more, for I am not yet asleep." I told
her the operation was over and the limb removed. For a time she
was incredulous, but when she fully took in the situation she was
overcome with gratitude, and in a well pronounced Hibernian dia-
lect expressed her thanks to God and then to the medical men who
surrounded her. I, too, felt very grateful, when it was thus prac-
tically demonstrated to me that exemption from suffering could be
promised to thousands and millions, who in the future should seek
to be relieved by the surgeon's knife. This, I believe, was the first
case operated on in Nova Scotia under an anaesthetic.

The senior practitioners in Halifax in 1845 were Robert Hume,
Mathias Hoffman (both retired naval surgeons), James F. Avery,
Frederic Morris, William Gregor, James C. Hume (son of Robert)
and Alexander Sawers.

The juniors were Thomas Sterling, Rufus Black, Wm. J.
Almon, Charles Cogswell, James R. DeWolfe, Edward Jennings
and James Allan (who graduated with me at Edinburgh). The
above, with one exception, studied in Great Britain, thirteen of
them at Edinburgh, one took a partial course in Dublin and grad-
uated subsequently in New York. When I cast in my lot with
the above gentlemen I was the junior in age and rank. Now all
but Senator Almon and Dr. DeWolfe have joined the great
majority, and we three only remain to tell the story of medicine
in our eitv half a centurv as;o.

THE JUBILEE 395

I have referred to Great Britain, and especially to Edinburgh,
as the educational source from whence the capital in olden times
was supplied with medical men.

The towns and larger villages in the out-districts of the Province
derived their supply in the main from the same schools. The most
of them were members or licentiates of the Royal Colleges of Sur-
geons of Edinburgh, London and Dublin; and among them a few
came from one or other of the public services of the United King-
dom. Those coming to our new country from these several sources
were generally well educated and intelligent men, and often
exerted, aside from their professional position and work, an ele-
vating and salutary influence on the communities where they lived
and labored. In the early history of medicine in Xova Scotia the
" regular practitioner " had to contend with empirics to a much
greater extent than in more recent times.

These men were generally illiterate, but shrewd and insinu-
ating, and would sometimes exert no small amount of influence on
the simple-minded settlers, prejudicing seriously the interests of
the qualified men and in many instances largely reducing the
already meagre incomes of the latter.

In those districts where the schoolmaster had not been much
abroad — the present public school system did not then exist — the
illiterate people were often led almost to believe that the educated
man was the quack, while he had been born a doctor, and had
received his knowledge of the healing art by intuition.

I could narrate from personal experience many incidents* —
some of them amusing, and others again quite the contrary — in
connection with these outside and would-be members of the pro-
fession, who had sought an entrance to the fold by irregular and
more than doubtful modes; but here I will only, by the way of
illustration, call up, and that in a few words, a single instance.

The reference is to one of this class of illegitimate practi-
tioners, who had obtained a diploma from a western United States
manufactory, whose portals had never been darkened by his pres-
ence, but on remitting $100 or $150, with a commendatory letter
signed by several of his neighbors, received from the authorities
of the so-called medical school the document asked for — a diploma.
The application, or rather, I should say, the accompanying dollars,
brought the required parchment, and the man became thereby

Dr. . These facts were given me by one of the persons whose

signature was attached to the letter.

ISTot long after this I was asked to see a patient some seventy
miles from the city, who was said to be seriously ill with pneu-
monia. On my arrival there I found the lungs entirely free from
disease. The case was one of " Herpes Zoster," the eruption occu-
pying an intercostal space or two over one of the lungs.

396 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

I had travelled only a few miles on my return journey when I
was stopped by an inmate of a farmhouse, who asked me to see a
young child suffering severely from a " rupture." I found on
examination a retained testis, covered by a truss with a strong
steel spring. The error in diagnosis was explained, the instru-
ment of torture discarded, and the mother and child made happy.

Both these cases were under the treatment of the man above
referred to. These dupes, as well as very many others, ere long
reached the conclusion that it was cheaper and better for them to
discard quacks, and when necessary obtain the services of regularly
qualified practitioners.

The Medical Act of 1872, and the amendments thereof ,
have been largely instrumental in decreasing the number of
empirics. The preliminary examination and the other several
parts of the curriculum demanded by this Act must be complied
with ; and the result has been not only to weed out irregular prac-
titioners, but to give to the Province a better educated, and hence
a more reliable, class of professional men.

It has been so long since I sat as a member of the " Medical
Board," that I think I may be permitted here, without making
myself amenable to the charge of egotism, to congratulate the
Province and profession on the work performed in recent times by
this "body," in so faithfully and judicially carrying out the pro-
visions of the Act, without fear or favor — always having upper-
most in their minds the public interest. I have made the state-
ment that half a century ago, and more, Great Britain furnished
by far the larger number of the duly qualified men in this
Province.

The statistics relating to this matter of supply are now mar-
vellously changed.

The official " Medical Register " for the present year gives the
full number on the list as 387; of these 29 graduated in England,
Ireland and Scotland; 258 in the United States; 100 in the dif-
ferent schools of the Dominion of Canada. Included in the
latter are a few names, I think not exceeding half a dozen, who
were licensed to practise under special legislative provisions prior
and subsequent to the passage of the Act of 1872.

Of the whole number on the "Register" for 1895 (387),
there were practising at the date of its issue, in Nova Scotia, 335 ;
and in other portions of British America, the United States and
elsewhere, 52, the places of residence of five being unknown.
The question naturally arises, why this decrease in the number of
British and the remarkable increase of United States graduates ?
In the consideration of this subject several matters are involved,
some of which I will briefly refer to.

First. Several of the leading schools in the larger cities of the

THE JUBILEE 397

United States have in recent years risen to eminence, and now com-
pare favorably with the best institutions of the kind in Europe.
The country (the United States) both in area and population is
large. It has acquired enormous wealth, and both private and public
funds are freely and generously given that the hospitals may not
be surpassed by those of other lands, and that every appliance may
be provided to aid in restoring the sick to health, and in imparting
the most advanced practical and scientific instruction to the thou-
sands of young men who flock to these universities and schools to
obtain a professional education.

In the choice of teachers the greatest care is used to select able
and practical men — working men with energy and " push," as our
neighbors express it, who are progressive, and never stand still.

Again, the curriculum, and the time required to complete it,
and the general educational qualifications of those who are about
to commence the study of medicine in these large and more
important schools have been advanced, and it is now a sine qua
non that in these respects the policy of British schools shall be
carried out. The number of inferior and cheap schools in the
United States is, however, still very large, and the competition
which has heretofore existed will continue, and no doubt for a
time will reduce the numerical strength of those which have thus
added to their qualifying power, but in the nature of things that
which is superior must eventually increase, while the inferior —
unless their ways are mended — will with equal certainty decrease.

In considering the subject of our Medical Register, past and
present, the question of the " Flags " seldom enters our thoughts.
In the first half of the present century the national sentiment of
the loyal Province of Nova Scotia would have turned the scale
against the United States, if all things else had been equal.

It fell to my lot to be born nearer to 1812, and 1776, than most
of the profession now living within our provincial limits ; and I
can call to mind how strong that sentiment was sixty years ago.
Then the British schools and the degrees obtained from them ranked
high, and were held in great esteem by our provincial public ; while
the standing of the comparatively small number of United States
graduates who were practising here was depreciated, doubtless in
some cases improperly and unjustly.

Literature and science, however, have a tendency to break down
such feelings ; and their votaries are generally the first to keep in
abeyance or forget those disturbing elements within us which, if
latitude were given them, would continue personal and national
hostilities for generations. In some measure, then, we may
attribute the diminished number of British graduates, and the
strikingly large number of United States diplomas and degrees
recorded on our provincial register, to the more generous sentiments

398 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKER, M.D.

■caused by the intermingling of men interested in literary, scientific
and professional pursuits.

"A fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind," Sometimes!

Here permit me to refer to an instance where the national sen-
timent to which I have referred, was officially exhibited to a dis-
tinguished member of our profession, long years ago a practitioner
in Nova Scotia. I refer to Dr. Robert Bayard (father of Dr.
William Bayard, of St. John), who died in New Brunswick in
18G8, in his eighty-first year.

He was a lieutenant in a regiment commanded by his father,
retired from the army, studied in Edinburgh with my old friend
and preceptor, William Bruce Almon, and graduated there in 1809.
He was immediately appointed Professor of Obstetrics in the
University of New York, where he remained until the war of 1812,
" when he received notice to quit," and with military promptitude
obeyed the order. He crossed from Portland, Maine, to St. John,
New Brunswick, in an open boat, practised medicine in Kentville,
N.S., for a few years, and then removed to St. John, where he
became the leader and father of the profession in that city and
province.

He was subsequently offered his old position in the University
of New York, but declined to accept it. This case of Dr. Bayard's
illustrates, first, the evil and prejudiced side of national sentiment,
and at a later period its better and more pleasing features, which
were brought, though late, into activity by the opposite or neutral-
izing sentiment of a scientific and professional brotherhood.

I would here say, parenthetically, that in connection with this
change in the countries selected by our provincial young men, in
which to qualify themselves for professional work, we are not to
lose sight of the following considerations, the proximity of the two
countries, the ready means of access, and the financial aspects of
the case ; the last very generally deciding the question.

I need hardly say that it has afforded me much gratification,
in searching the records, to notice the large number of medical
men whose names appear on the " Register " as graduates of our
own Canadian schools, some of whom are recognized as among the
ablest and best men in our provincial profession.

Another matter suggested by examining the register should not
be permitted to pass without remark. Tt is that of the 258 who
graduated in the United States, nine subsequently obtained diplo-
mas or degrees from British schools. While of the one hundred
holding Canadian qualifications, eight supplemented these in the
same manner. The time, labor and money thus spent in acquiring
these additional qualifications will, I feel assured, never be
regretted ; and the advantage will not be confined to the prac-

THE JUBILEE 399

titioner alone, but his patients will also be partakers of the benefits
resulting from the increased information and practical knowledge
thus obtained.

There being no necessity on legal grounds to add to the qualifi-
cations already possessed by the gentlemen above referred to, sim-
ilar and almost as satisfactory results may be obtained by fre-
quently visiting (as I am glad to say many of our practitioners
are doing) , hospitals connected with the larger and more important
schools in the United States and, without examinations, giving as
much time and attention as possible to post-graduate studies. I
can speak from experience on this matter, for in the past it has
been my habit to often visit these institutions, and twenty years ago
I was thus occupied at school again in Edinburgh for the greater
part of eighteen months.

In a word, remembering the responsibilities connected with
professional life, I may say that as the allied sciences of medicine
and surgery are so rapidly advancing as the years go by, it becomes
more than ever before a moral obligation devolving on our mem-
bership to lose no opportunity for thus adding to our store of prac-
tical knowledge.

MODES OF CONVEYANCE IN FORMER YEARS.

In the earlier years of my practice my journeys to the outlying
sections of the county were made on horseback, and as soon as it
became an object to economize time my city work was largely per-
formed in the saddle.

Avery and Black, perhaps more than any of my confreres of
that day, adopted this mode of visiting their patients. There were
but three policemen in the city at that time — none of them young —
who could never see so small an object as a doctor's horse when
standing tethered on the sidewalk. The senior Hume, a man of
more than six feet in height and large in proportion, even when
quite advanced in life, reluctantly relinquished the saddle for a
carriage. I do not remember ever to have seen his large and high
horse when under the saddle increase his pace beyond a walk, and
when he took to wheels his " coach was slow," and the wheels
revolved more slowly still when the doctor had by his side his old
shipmate Lord Dundonald, who for the usual term of years was
admiral in command of the fleet on this station.

This prince among British sailors — -bravest of the brave — was
even a larger man than Hume. Both were Scotchmen of the
olden time, and many's the " crack " these venerable men had as
they drove between Admiralty House and Barrington Street,
Hume's place of residence; the horse in the meantime, taking in
the situation, would " gang his ain gait " while the two discussed
the past, the scenes and events of their early sea life. Outside the

400 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

main roads leading to Annapolis, Pictou and Amherst, which were
" from middling to fair," journeys were more comfortably made
on horseback than in any other way. Along mail coach routes,
when distant places had to be reached and urgency demanded it,
I quite frequently travelled in a light carriage with coach horses,
generally driving myself.

Greater comfort and economy of time were thus attained ; but
sometimes serious, and at other times amusing, incidents would
occur to retard one's progress, in consequence of " an evil spirit "
taking possession of the strange animals given me by the grooms
at the different stations. When, as was occasionally my lot, for
want of roads I had to be conveyed along the shores of the coast
in a whaler propelled by the strong arms and willing hearts of a
crew of fishermen, who never hesitated to drop their work, however
urgent it might be, and ship their oars in haste, that they might
convey relief to a fellow fisherman, or any member of his family,
when sickness and suffering rendered medical assistance necessary ;
or when riding on horseback through bridle paths in unfamiliar
country districts, facing a pelting storm of rain or snow, the story
of the trials of the veterans who lived and labored far from the
capital, during the last of the eighteenth and the early years of
the present century — handed down by tradition — would be
recalled, and although it was too late to sympathize with them, I
would feelingly appreciate what they in their day and generation
had endured. The hardships from exposure with me were only
occasional, but my brethren of these earlier dates had to face them
" year in and year out." Having my face washed by salt-water
spray as I sat in the stern-sheets of a boat, or in a saddle wet and
uncomfortable, had not the effect of making one " feel jolly under
the circumstances," but the mentor within would suggest the con-
trast between now and then; between my general environments
and those of my professional forerunners, just referred to, who
often journeyed through forests where even bridle paths were
absent, guided by " blazed " trees, and very frequently in winter
long distances were covered, their feet not resting in stirrups, but
encased in moccasins of moose skin, strapped to the friendly snow-
shoe.

With these men, society and local educational advantages for
their children were dreamed of, but could not be realized or
enjoyed. Their comforts were few and their general surroundings
undesirable.

The contrast just referred to could but end in this conclusion:
that after all " the lines had fallen unto me in pleasant places."
The whole country is now intersected with roads, many of them
inferior, it is true, but carriages can be driven over the most of
them; and for a new and small province, with a population not

THE JUBILEE 401

exceeding 500,000, the railroad mileage is large, there being not
less than 842 miles in operation, exclusive of the lines employed
in carrying coal only. Within my recollection, and since I com-
menced my professional labors, very marked changes have taken
place in nearly every county of our land, making the work for
medical men comparatively safe and pleasant ; so that the 335 men
spread over the Province may be said to be in the possession of a
" goodly heritage."

In the early years of my practice, professional men seldom
rested from their labors, or left their fields for change and recrea-
tion ; and I believe I was the first " medicine man " (as the Indians
were wont to call us) in this city who adopted the plan of relin-
quishing work, for a longer or shorter period, annually. Three
times I crossed the Atlantic, and on one of these occasions remained
in the mother country a year and a half, pleasantly and profitably
occupied as a student, without the cares and responsibilities which
pertain to men in active practice. Shorter absences enabled me to
obtain much information of a useful and practical character, con-
nected with the Dominion of Canada and many of the States of the
neighboring Union, from the Atlantic to the Pacific,

A want of knowledge of foreign languages rendered my visits
to Continental Europe less profitable both generally and profession-
ally than they would otherwise have been. However, as a conse-
quence of these runs away, mental and physical rest were obtained,
health was conserved, very pleasant and lasting friendships were
formed ; all of which will tend to enhance the enjoyment of declin-
ing years, as " by my ain fireside " I shall sit watching and wait-
ing for the end to come. I refer to this subject because I consider
it of no small moment to the hard-worked professional man,
whether he be a doctor, a clergyman, or a lawyer, to periodically
leave his work and obtain rest.

The preservation of health and the prolongation of life are far
more important than that for which very many men are spending
their strength and shortening their days.

In my experience I have seen many strong and good men fall,
as if by their own hands, into an early grave, from continuous over-
work and mental taxation, when, humanly speaking, had they
adopted the course which I found it incumbent on me to follow
even before I reached mid-life, they might have lived to the allotted
age of man or even beyond it.

The statistics in connection with the population of Halifax
and this Province, and the percentage of medical men to that popu-
lation in the years 1845 and 1895 — half a century — are not unin-
teresting, and I will as briefly as possible direct your attention to
the matter. The census in the one case was taken about six years
after 1845 {i.e., in 1851), and in the other, four years before 1895

402 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

(i.e., in 1891), so you will please bear in mind that my estimate
of the population both at the beginning and end of the half-cen-
tury in question is approximate, and inasmuch as we have no
official data prior to 1872 that I am aware of, to guide us in rela-
tion to the number of physicians or surgeons practising in the
counties outside the capital, my estimate on this point is also an
approximate one.

In 1845 there were living and working in Halifax fourteen
practitioners exclusive of myself.

The population of the city as given in the census of 1851 was
19,949. Remembering, as I do, how slow the increase was during
the last sixty years, I have placed it in 1845 at 17,000, which
being divided by fourteen (the number of medical men), would
give a per capita constituency of 1,214.

Col. Sellers himself would hardly be able to say " there were
millions in it," but while all lived and apparently enjoyed life, the
lion's share of the practice was in the hands of four or five men.
All in those days, both in the city and country, dispensed their
own prescriptions, and thus to a considerable extent supplemented
their purely professional incomes. I assume that the population
of Halifax since the census of 1891, when it amounted to 38,495,
must ere this have reached 41,000. Now, with a working force of
from fifty to fifty-five medical men, taking the first named and
smaller number (fifty) as the basis of the calculation, there will
be but 820 inhabitants to each practitioner.

I have compared notes with Dr. DeWolfe — my senior by a few
years — and he has kindly placed on paper for my benefit a list of
the names of medical men practising in Nova Scotia in 1845, to
the best of his recollection, and together we have reached the con-
clusion that there were about one hundred, but not more, occupy-
ing the entire field at that period.

The census of 1851 gave to the Province a population of
276,117. My starting-point is six years in advance of that date;
and I have assumed that 250,000 would about cover the number
for 1845. This would give to each physician or surgeon a con-
stituency of 2,500 individuals, if it were possible to make an equal
division in a matter of this nature, but such a thing is practically
impossible. The few will live, and the many will simply exist.

For the last twenty years, or more, there has been a wide-
spread tendency among the young men of North America, in
choosing occupations for their life's work, to select law and medi-
cine, in preference to agricultural, mechanical or other employ-
ments, in which many_ of their fathers were engaged, to the pre-
judice, often, of their own welfare and the interests of their
country. Two years ago I spent several weeks in a village in an
elevated and beautiful part of the State of New Hampshire, where

THE JUBILEE 403

I noticed that nearly all the farm work and manual labor was
being performed by men advanced in years. On asking the ques-
tion, " Where are your young men ?" the reply was, " In the cities
and towns, behind counters ; or away from home seeking to become
lawyers and doctors." Without adequate mental training or
ability, without any natural liking or special aptitude for either of
these professions, an increasingly large number of young men is
being annually added to their list of membership, until at length
the fact has been established by statistics that the due or proper
proportion which should exist between these professions and the
population has ceased to exist.

Leaving this subject, in so far as it relates to law, to lawyers,
permit me to say that I do not wish to be misunderstood on the
question of manufacturing doctors, if I may use such an
expression !

My idea is, that whenever and wherever a young man of good
character, of mental ability and industry, has a strong and per-
sistent desire to enter the medical profession, his wishes should not
be thwarted, but parents and friends should do all in their power
to aid him in accomplishing the object of his ambition, by giving
him first of all a liberal education, and then placing him in such a
position that he can acquire as thorough a knowledge of medical
science as can be imparted in our own or other countries.

On the other hand, those who are immediately interested would
do well to advise neutral young men, those without energy, or
" push," or the educational qualification essential to success ; who
look forward to a life of comparative ease, comfort and respect-
ability, and would enter our profession to obtain these objects — to
remain at home, or look elsewhere for congenial occupation.

To conquer success in the medical profession a " bed of roses "
is not to be thought of. Continuous labor, both mental and
physical, is essential. In the " hive " he cannot remain a " drone,"
but must be ever a working bee.

Bearing on this subject, I beg leave to call your attention to a
partial synopsis of two lectures — the first delivered to the students
of Pennsylvania University in 1877, and the second before the
same body sixteen years later, in 1893 — on " Higher Medical Edu-
cation," by Dr. William Pepper, Professor of the Practice of
Medicine in that University.

The statistics and other matters dealt with in this article will,
I know, interest you, and I feel assured you will admire the
decided and manly spirit in which he deals with the prominent
evils and grave errors surrounding the important subject of med-
ical education in the United States.

It is well that one of the leading medical minds and most
prominent men in that country should have thus dealt with the

404 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

matter. No man outside the bounds of the United States, or
belonging to another nationality, could have laid bare the defi-
ciencies and lack of sound morality existing there in connection
with this subject, as Pepper has done, without being charged with
either national hostility or professional jealousy. While I am
assured that the prominent evils — sins of omission and commission
— mentioned by Pepper do not exist in Canadian institutions, the
laws on our provincial statute books making it imperative that
the preliminary educational standing of the student, the curri-
culum, and the time (four years) required to complete the course
must be rigidly adhered to; still I feel that this severe but, I
believe, just criticism may be read elsewhere, and even in our
own Dominion, without doing injury.

" Need of a Highek Medical Education.
" (From the Springfield Republican,)

" There is much that is instructive in the two essays, ' On
Higher Medical Education,' by Dr. William Pepper, recently pub-
lished by the J. B. Lippincott Company, and they forcibly call
attention to our deplorable lack of any high standard in this matter.
In fact, humiliating as the truth may be, Dr. Pepper ranks the
United States in regard to the education of its physicians, not
simply below the chief countries of the Old World, but below many
nations Which we have been accustomed to look upon as only half-
civilized. He lays the blame for this shortcoming at the doors of
the medical colleges, which have suffered their greed and their
ambition to excel in point of numbers to lower their standard so as
to permit practically anyone who will pay their fees to obtain a
degree. This practice is not only dishonest, but in the long run
unwise from a financial point of view, for in consequence of the
ease with which anyone who cares to may enter upon the practice
of medicine, that profession has become so overcrowded that a
large part of those who undertake to practise it are unable to make
a living.

" Dr. Pepper estimates from the existing statistics that, taking
the length and breadth of a country, urban and rural, one thor-
oughly qualified medical man can minister efficiently to, and in
turn be fairly supported by, a population of from 1,500 to 2,500
persons. The truth of this is shown by the proportion of phy-
sicians to population in the principal countries of the world.
Great Britain, with about 38,000,000, has 22,000 medical men,
giving one to every 1,707 of the population. Germany, with
50,000,000 people, has 16,270 practitioners, or one to every 3,038
of the population. France, with her 39,000,000, has 16,593 phy-
sicians, including officers of health, or one to every 2,766. In

THE JUBILEE 405

Norway there are but 502 doctors to two millions of people, or
one for every 4,000; and for Russia's 115,000,000 there are
13,443, or one for every 3,551 of the people. The ratio in other
countries is as follows: Austria, one to 3,857; Belgium, one to
2,341; Italy, one to 3,536; Netherlands, one to 2,434; Spain,
one to 3,375. The United States, however, with her 62,622,250
of population, boasts of 100,000 physicians, or one for every 626
of the population.

" Yet no one would be ready to infer from this that there is
twice as much sickness in the United States as in Great Britain,
or four times as much as in France, or five times as much as in
Germany, or six times as much as in Norway. In fact such an
imputation would be indignantly resented if it were made. The
only conclusion, then, that can be reached is that our country is
enormously overstocked with doctors, owing chiefly to the ease with
which diplomas can be procured. There are, no doubt, many
bogus diplomas still in circulation, in spite of the efforts which
have been made to suppress such downright dishonesty, but it is
hardly necessary to purchase a spurious article when the real thing
can be obtained about as cheaply, and with the expenditure of so
little time and effort on the part of the candidate.

" That there has been not a little improvement in the quality of
the education given in the better schools is pointed out in these
lectures, which have special interest on account of the manner in
Which they were delivered. The first was given before the med-
ical students of the University of Pennsylvania, in 1877, and the
second before the same body just sixteen years later, in 1893. In
the first the lecturer devotes his time to showing the great decline
which had come upon the medical schools of the country since 1811
in the standard of admission and graduation. In most schools, in
1877, the student was only required to attend two courses of lec-
tures, each of less than five months' duration, 115 to 120 days of
actual teaching, and even this time was largely wasted, owing to
the lack of any classification of the students, so that advanced
pupils and those fresh from the farm had to listen to the same
lectures. So easy were the examinations that the proportion of
the rejected did not exceed one in fifty applicants. This was in
the best medical schools, while there were sprouting all over the
country cheap institutions which gave diplomas with the flimsiest
excuse for a course in instruction.

"In the address of 1893 Dr. Pepper was able to point to many
gratifying symptoms of improvement. Out of 143 medical schools
in the United States and Canada, not less than 129 have adopted
some standard of general qualifications. On the other hand, the
morbid process of establishing medical schools of inferior quality
has gone on with more rapidity than before, and in the twelve

406 DANIEL McNEILL pakker, m.d.

years from 1873 to 1890, inclusive, no fewer than 168 new schools
were chartered. Ohio, which is somewhat celebrated for the
number of its colleges, is not behind in this field, and has nineteen
medical schools for between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 of popu-
lation. In some departments of education the small institution
is fully as good as the large university, but in medicine, technical
development has been so rapid of late years that only the largest
and best equipped of schools can furnish the facilities for studying
to the best advantage.

" It is time that the Legislatures of the several States should
take this matter in hand and put a stop to the production of unedu-
cated physicians, while the schools of medicine owe it to them-
selves as well as to the public to raise the standard of their edu-
cation to the level required in other countries. To suppose that
an adequate preparation can be obtained in less than four years is
absurd, and although those who graduate earlier may become
expert physicians, it is at the expense of those on whom they prac-
tise. Dr. Pepper justly says : ' It is a hardship to students who
have been admitted without examination, to be dismissed after
two or three years because their teachers are not able to supply the
fatal defects of early study. It is a more cruel hardship to the
community to have turned loose upon them ill-trained physicians,
literally wolves in sheep's clothing, who by cramming or coaxing,
or the cupidity of examiners whose fees will be affected by the
result of the examination, have acquired an unmerited diploma.'
— "Evening Telegraph, Philadelphia, April 1st, 1895."

This undue numerical growth of the professional men in
the United States, Canada and elsewhere must ere long undergo
a change. In our department, as in the general business of life,
the supply, on well recognized principles, will, of necessity, be
regulated by the demand ; and when, from this overgrowth, the
struggle for existence becomes more acute than at present, " the
survival of the fittest " will settle the question as to who shall rise
and who shall fall. The time is even now at hand when the parties
more immediately interested in this important matter should " call
a halt," " stop and think," ere they finally determine the question
and select the occupations of their future life.

And now, gentlemen, I am about to say farewell to the practical
work of the profession of my choice, to which I was wedded fifty
long years ago. I am now in my seventy-fourth year, and am
quite frequently admonished that the step I am taking is necessary,
and that the responsibilities and duties which have fallen to my
lot in the years past should be relinquished to younger men. With
the regrets I experience in thus acting there is mingled the emo-
tion of pleasure, because I well know that I am leaving on the field

THE JUBILEE 407

men who are better able to fill the place than I could possibly do
were I to continue for a time longer your co-laborer.

Very soon " the places that now know me will know me no
more," and while the great truth embodied in this quotation is
especially applicable to those advanced in life, no class of men
know better than those belonging to our profession how necessary
it is that even the youngest of us should keep these words hidden
in our hearts and ever fresh in our memories.

If twenty-five years constitute what we are wont to call " a
generation," I may fitly close my remarks by saying that for two
generations I have held amicable and most satisfactory relations
with the members of our profession in this city and province.
And now, gentlemen, permit me to most sincerely thank you for
all the courtesy and kindness which I have received at your hands
since we became brethren in the great brotherhood of medicine
and surgery ; and last, but not least, for the address which you have
to-day done me the honor to present me with.

Mrs. Parker and my family cordially thank you for remember-
ing them, and unitedly we would reciprocate the more than kindly
utterances contained in the closing paragraph of your address.

The St. John Messenger and Visitor of August 7th contained
the following reference to this event:

" FIFTY FAITHFUL YEARS.

" Thursday last, the first of August, was a day of special interest for
Hon. Dr. Parker, of Halifax, as marking for him the completion of fifty
years of professional life. Congratulatory messages, we learn, were
received from many friends who knew of the interesting anniversary, and
also an address from the men of his own profession in Halifax, among
whom his learning and practical ability have long been recognized as
entitling him to a distinguished position. Not only because of his
eminence in his profession but as a member for many years of the
Legislature and taking a somewhat prominent part in the political affairs
of the province, besides his general and active interest in whatever con-
cerns the welfare of the people and because of the strict integrity and
marked ability which have characterized him in all his work, Hon. Dr.
Parker is widely and most favorably known, and especially in his native
province where his life has been spent and his work principally has been
done. We need not say to the readers of the Messenger and Visitor that
Dr. Parker has been a life-long and consistent Baptist. His praise is in
all the churches. The cause which he has long and deeply loved has
received his generous and unswerving support, not only in connection
with the church of which he has long been a valued member, but in all
the benevolent enterprises in which the denomination has been engaged.
He has ever been the kind and most practically sympathetic friend of
our ministers and their families, to whose physical ills he has ministered
without fee or reward save the love and gratitude of "his patients and the
satisfaction of giving, in times of need, medical advice and attendance
of a character which otherwise could not have been secured.

" The Messenger and Visitor desires to present its congratulations to
Dr. Parker on the rounding out of so long a period of most faithful and

408 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

successful labor in the service of God and humanity and to express the
hope that not a few happy and peaceful years may yet iremain to him in
which to enjoy the rewards and honors of a well-spent life. It must be
with a degree of satisfaction and with much gratitude that a good man
looks back from such a position as that which our friend has reached to
consider the good way by which, in the providence of God, he has been
led.

" Dr. Parker, as his friends all know, is not a man to court public
attention, and we perhaps incur the risk of a kindly reproof from our
good friend for having ventured to say so much about him here, but if
we said anything it seemed impossible to say less, and certainly we
might say a great deal more by way of appreciation, without any danger
of reproof from conscience."

A great many congratulatory letters and telegrams were
received from physicians, absent friends and patients, among
them a joint letter from Moncton, 1ST.B., signed by six old patients.
I select eight, as representative of various types of these letters:

" Government House,

"Halifax, N.S., 1st August, 1895.
" My Dear Doctor, — Let me join with your medical friends in con-
gratulating you to-day upon your attaining a jubilee in your profession.
" Fifty years of useful service to your fellow-beings is something to
look back upon with pleasure. You have that pleasure to-day, for in
this community what numbers can recall instances of pain, suffering and
disease alleviated by your skill and care. But I must speak for my own
family, and for myself personally. We acknowledge and will always
feel under a debt of gratitude to you. Please then accept our united
congratulations, and with our sincerest wishes for your health and hap-
piness for many years to come, believe me,

" Very sincerely yours,

" (Sgd.) M. B. Daly."

"Halifax, August 1st, 1895.

" Dear Doctor Parker, — Mrs. Stairs and I are about going off for a
run in the country. We leave this morning, or I should have liked to
have called upon you to-day — with my congratulations — this being the
anniversary of your fifty years' status as a physician. We call to mind
meeting you in London fifty years ago, just about this season of the year.
As a physician, how many cases of pain and suffering you must have
relieved.

" We remember also your care and kindness to our children when
they wore young; you may not remember, but we do, our dear Willie
who died at 14 years of age, and your more than professional goodness.
You will remember our journey with Jack to the South States on the
outbreak of the war of secession.

" With best wishes for your and Mrs. Parker's good health and hap-
piness, for myself and Mrs. Stairs.

" Yours sincerely,

" (Sgd.) W. J. Stairs."

" Dear Dr. Parker, — The notice card announcing the intention of
your brother practitioners to present you with an address expressive of
their regard for you as a man and a physician reached me only this
morning. I was quite ignorant of any such plan being on foot, and
therefore, much to my regret could not and did not take part in the
proceedings. Nevertheless, my dear doctor, I wish thus immediately to

THE JUBILEE 409

convey to you my best wishes and congratulations. When I was a junior
you were always kind, and now as a senior I regard you as one to whom
I can look for counsel and advice, and to whom I could communicate any
schemes looking to the amelioration of the condition of the insane,
among whom my life is now spent, with the certain knowledge that if
they commended themselves to your judgment you would lend your aid
as a man, a physician or a legislator. May you continue long to enjoy
the rewards of a well spent life.

" Perhaps one of the sweetest and most appreciated of them is the
knowledge that by your professional conduct you, through your long
practice, have the good will of all and the affection of many of your
confreres.

" With kind regards to Mrs. Parker,

" I am, yours sincerely,

" (Sgd.) Geo. L. Sinclair.
" Mount Hope, August 2, 1895."

" Office of City Auditor,

"Halifax, N.S., 2 August, 1895.
" My Dear Sir, — :I feel as if I should not allow the opportunity to
pass without adding my humble congratulations to those which you are
receiving at the present time from all sides — professional and otherwise.
Knowing you as I have, more or less intimately, for the greater part of
a lifetime — having been acquainted with many who were friends to us
both, and having myself been at one time associated with you in the dis-
charge of public duty, it seems fitting that I should join in the tribute
of esteem and affection which your long and eminently useful life has
called forth.

" Trusting that you still have many years before you, and that your
last days may be the best of all, with kindest regards to Mrs. Parker, I
beg to subscribe myself,

" Most sincerely yours,

" (Sgd.) John A. Bell."

" 455 Huron Street. Toronto,
"August 7th, 1895.
" My Dear Dr. Parker, — Permit me to add my congratulations and
good wishes to the many you have already received on reaching your
jubilee year, the particulars of the celebration of which I have read in
the papers. A life without a stain, and full of right and benevolent
action, such as you have been enabled, by divine grace, to live is the best
legacy which a man can bequeath to his family and to the generations
following; it is, moreover, connected with the richest promises concern-
ing the life to come. May tbe remaining years of your earthly life be
many and happy, and at evening time may it be light. Mrs. Welton joins
me in the heartiest wishes for the continued health and prosperity and
happiness, temporal and spiritual, of yourself and Mrs. Parker,

" Very sincerely yours,

" (Sgd.) D. M. Welton."

" Partridge Island, Parrsboro. N.S.

" August 1, 1895.
" My Dear Dr. Parker, — I notice by the papers that this is the
' jubilee ' of your professional life. Mrs. Rand and I beg to extend our
most cordial greetings, even though we are not of the guild. It must be
most gratifying and pleasant to you to be able to cast your eyes back-
ward over the years of hard and successful work, and to know that it has
not been in vain. Whenever I speak with young men preparing for the
medical profession, I am always reminded of your admirable exemplifica-

410 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

tion of the Christian physician, and feel impelled thereby to urge the
highest motives upon their attention.

" I trust, too, that as you cast your eyes forward it is with the assur-
ance that there is a higher sphere of service awaiting you, — one where
the assuaging of pain will be a thing of the past, but gracious ministra-
tion an unending delight.

" Mrs. Rand and I are finding great refreshment here. There is no
air so full of nerve stimulus and health to me; and the beauty of the
place, with its unceasing variations, gives me rest both of spirit and body.

" We unite in kindest remembrances to Mrs. Parker and yourself.

" Ever yours,
" (Sgd.) Theodore H. Rand."

" Maitland, Hants Co.,

"August 1st, 1895.
" To the Honble. D. McN. Parker, M.D., Halifax.

" Observing by the Halifax Herald of yesterday that, dear venerable
doctor, you celebrate to-day your golden jubilee — fifty years a physician
— and that the medical profession present you with an address, I take
the liberty of writing you my congratulations, and wish you the enjoy-
ment of many years yet in the diamond lustre of this event, with the
heavenly blessing of Almighty Ck>d, to His glory.

" I recall many occasions of your kindness to me in consultations
and wish to mention a visit you paid my dear daughter Florence who
had a downstairs fall when about two years old. I was anxious lest the
continued depression from the shock might develop into serious trouble.
Your advice was timely, and in a few weeks she fully recovered. 1
always could catch a profitable lesson from you. I know that you are
living a life not in vain, and that your professional legacy will run into
generations.

" Very respectfully yours,

" (Sgd.) E. N. Payzant, M.D.,

" Jeff. Med. Coll., 1855."

" Maitland, Hants Co., N.S.

" August 3rd, 1895.
" Hon. Dr. Parker, Halifax, N.S.

" My Dear Sir, — Having just arrived in Nova Scotia and being made
acquainted with your jubilee, I hasten to congratulate you. In this world
the tones of joy and congratulations are so seldom heard that one is
almost startled by the sound, but they acquire additional sweetness from
the contrast.

" It is truly refreshing to me to think of my dear old student days,
when I had the pleasure of listening to your clinics in the hospital at
Halifax.

" Please accept my congratulations on this the fiftieth year in your
noble work, and I hope you will long be spared to continue in your labor
of love. With sincere wishes,

" I beg to rernain,

" Respectfully yours,

" (Sgd.) O. F. McCallum, M.D."

To acknowledge by letter, telegram and personal visits the
large packet of such communications which accumulated was no
slight undertaking, but this was conscientiously and diligently
accomplished. The spirit in which he received and acknowledged
these communications is exemplified in the following letter to
the late Rev. S. McCully Black, then editor of the Messenger

THE JUBILEE 411

and Visitor', and also in the subjoined extract from his reply to
the letter of Dr. Theodore H. Rand, the Chancellor of McMaster
University, Toronto:

" Daetmouth, X.S.,
" August 9th, 1895.
" Dear Brother Black :

" Fifty years of professional life have been permitted, by the
goodness of God, to fall to my lot, and now that I am retiring
from the field in which I have so long labored, my esteemed
clerical, medical and other friends are almost overwhelming me
with unexpected kindness. I have just closed a letter to a min-
ister, in which I say : ' Some way or other my friends here and
elsewhere have overestimated my character, career and work, and
I have already told many of them by pen and speech, that after
a close self-examination of the inner man, I am compelled to
greatly differ with their estimate of me.' Were I in the market
and for sale, I am well assured that the purchasers would do
well to take me at my own valuation rather than that of my edi-
torial and other friends, whose brotherly feelings have prompted
them to say so many kind things concerning me.

" It would, as you suggest in your editorial remarks, have been
more in accordance with my tastes and feelings if I had been
permitted to retire into the quiet and rest of private life without
'note or comment.' However, it cannot now be changed, and
I most cordially thank you for the spirit which prompted you
to give utterance to the overkind and more than friendly thoughts
embodied in your article relating to me in the last issue of the
Messenger and Visitor.

" With kindest regards to Mrs. Black, yourself and Brother
Saunders, I remain,

" Ever yours faithfully,

"(Sgd.) * D. McX. Paekee.
"Rev. S. McCully Black."

The following is the extract from the letter to Dr. Band :

" Although my life has been one of toil, it is
pleasant for me to look back and to recognize the fact that the
loving hand of the dearest of all friends has guided me during
all these years, through labors, trials, joys and sorrows, until
now the end must in the nature of things be not far away. In
view of that period I look forward with confidence, having the
assurance that He who has brought me thus far on will never
leave nor forsake me. My professional brethren and many other
friends have recently exhibited great kindness, and I might add

412 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEE, M.D.

even affection towards me, for which I am and will, I trust,
ever be grateful."

In this spirit of humble, grateful acknowledgment to God
for the mercies of the past, of simple trust in Him for the future,
and with heartfelt appreciation of the many expressions of admira-
tion and affection which had been showered upon him by his
fellow-men, my father passed from the varied scenes of activity
in which he had long been conspicuous, and closed the epoch of
the " Fifty Faithful Years."

CHAPTEE XII.
POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

" You were not borne all onely for your selves;
Your countrie claymes some part of all your paines."

— George Gascoigne (1574.)

Daniel McNeill Parker was born into a family which, patern-
ally and maternally, was Conservative or Tory in all its history
and traditions; even though, on the paternal side of the house,
the Quaker ancestors had owed their enfranchisement to the
Whig ministry of Walpole in 1722.

If it be true, as the Lord Chancellor in " Iolanthe " sings :

" Every little boy or girl who's born alive
Is born Liberal or Conservative " —

it was true a fortiori of him that he was born into the political
party whose principles and fortunes he consistently followed for
a long lifetime. His father was an active, ardent leader in pro-
moting the interests of that party in his county, where his politi-
cal influence was a considerable factor in election contests. The
son imbibed with his mother's milk the spirit of a Toryism which
went back to the influences of the American Revolutionary War,
as they affected her Loyalist father and his family.

As indicative of the strength of party feeling in general at
the time, and of his mother's in particular, it is related of her
that, travelling with her husband by coach from Halifax to
Windsor, and presiding at table when the coach stopped for
supper at an inn, she declined to pour a cup of tea for Lewis
M. Wilkins, who was of the party, because he had " turned his
coat " in 1854, and accepted office in the Liberal Government.

Early association with such men as his great-uncle Mr.
Nutting and Mr. J. W. Johnston could not but strengthen the
party tie during youth, as one may discern in the letter to C. M.
Nutting, written from Edinburgh in 1843. In comparatively
early life he entered unofficially into the counsels of the party,
where his energy and political sagacity made him a valuable
accession. When the reins of leadership passed from the hands
of the veteran Johnston to those of his distinguished successor,
the Cumberland doctor, with whose removal to Halifax my father

413

414 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

was closely connected, he had attained a position in the inner
circle of party leaders, and later his influence was strongly felt
in the movement for Confederation during the years when the
scheme was in its formative stage.

In September, 1863, he was among the Nova Scotians who
met and warmly welcomed Hon. John A. Macdonald, Hon. George
Brown, Hon. Alexander Gait, Hon. George E. Cartier, Hon.
William McDougall and Hon. D'Arcy McGee, the delegates from
the Canadian Government who came to Halifax to discuss the
question of Union after the Charlottetown conference, which had
been held on the first day of that month. The friendships then
formed by my father with these leaders of political thought and
with other men of large calibre, drawn together by this momen-
tous question of the times, were enduring, and became cemented
by further association at Ottawa and elsewhere in later life. For
the talented and ill-fated D'Arcy McGee he then conceived a
warm admiration, and their association at that time grew into
a friendship, founded on mutual regard, a tie which caused my
father a very real and painful shock when, five years later, the
assassin's bullet snapped all the earthly ties which had bound
McGee to a host of admiring friends.

At this period the old house on Argyle Street, being situated
near the centre of political life at the Province Building, became
a frequent meeting-place for the conclaves of Conservative or
Confederate leaders. My father's interest in the supreme politi-
cal question was deep, his efforts on behalf of his party's policy
were untiring. Yet he could not reconcile with his sense of duty
to his profession any open or public participation in politics
which would make undue demands on his time. But when the
heat of conflict deepened in 1867, he at length yielded to the
pressure of his party, and particularly to the persuasion of his
life-long friend, Dr. Tupper, the leader of the Government, and
accepted a seat in the Legislative Council, in time to participate
by voice and vote in the contest with the anti-Confederates, who,
after the event, were striving mightily to overthrow the Union,
so far as Nova Scotia was concerned.

My father was one of six members of the Council who were
appointed just before the British North America Act came into
force. Previous to this Act (of Confederation) Legislative
Councillors, under a clause in the commission of the Governor
of British North America, were appointed by the Lieutenant-
Governor of the Province, subject to confirmation by the Sover-
eign. My father's commission from the Lieutenant-Governor was
in the following: terms:

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 415

" Province of Nova Scotia

Seal. " (Sgd.) F. W. Williams.

(ROYAL ARMS.)
" By His Excellency Sir William Fen-
wick Williams of Kars, Baronet, Lieuten-
ant-General in Her Majesty's Army,
Knight Commander of the Most Honor-
able Order of the Bath; Grand Officer
Legion d'honneur; 1st Class of the
Turkish Order of Medijee, etc., etc.;
Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-
Chief in and over Her Majesty's Pro-
vince of Nova Scotia and its Depen-
dencies, etc., etc.

" To D. McN. Parker, Esquire, M.D.

" GREETING.
" By virtue of the power and authority in me vested, I have thought
fit to constitute and appoint, and do, by the advice of the Executive
Council of the said Province, hereby constitute and appoint you the said
D. McN. Parker a member of the Legislative Council of this Province
provisionally until Her Majesty's pleasure be known.

" Hereby granting unto you all the rights, powers and advantages
which to the said office do or may lawfully appertain, and requiring you
diligently to perform the duties thereof.

" Given under my hand and Seal at
Arms, at Halifax, this twenty-eighth day
of June in the thirtieth year of Her
Majesty's Reign, A.D. 1867.
" By His Excellency's Command,

" (Sgd.) Charles Tupper."

As the British North America Act became operative on the
first day of July, 1867, and as the commission of Viscount Monck,
the last Governor of British North America, containing the clause
authorizing provisional appointments to the Council by the Lieu-
tenant-Governor, was revoked at the time of the Union on the issue
to Viscount Monck of his new commission as the first Governor-
General of Canada, a constitutional question arose as to the mode
of appointment to the Council at this period of transition from the
old regime. The point was raised in a despatch to Lord Monck by
the Duke of Buckingham, Secretary of State for the Colonies,
calling attention to the unsatisfactory condition in which the right
to appoint the Legislative Councillors was left by the British
North America Act. The Privy Council of Canada advised Lord
Monck that inasmuch as the 88th section of the Act provided that
the constitution of the Legislature of Nova Scotia should continue
as it existed at the Union until altered under the authority of that
Act, the old mode and authority of appointing the Councillors was
kept alive by that section. This opinion was communicated to
Sir Hastings Doyle (General Williams' successor in the govern-
ment of Nova Scotia) in October. The " red tape " unwound
slowly through voluminous despatches exchanged by the three

416 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

governments. The question was set at rest by the following
despatch, dated December 3rd, 1867:

"My Lord: With reference to my despatch No. 74, of the 23rd
August, enclosing a despatch from Lieutenant-General "Williams, report-
ing the provisional appointment of six gentlemen to be members of the
Legislative Council of the Province of Nova Scotia, I have the honor to
acquaint your Lordship that the names of these gentlemen (Messrs. John
McKinnon, Peter Smyth, William O. Hefferman, Samuel Creelman,
Daniel McNeill Parker and James Fraser), were duly submitted to the
Queen in Council, and that Her Majesty has been pleased to approve
their appointment.

" I transmit to your Lordship herewith warrants under the royal
sign manual and signet, authorizing you to appoint those gentlemen to
seats in that Council accordingly.

" I have, etc., etc.,

" (Sgd.) Buckingham and Chandos.
" To Governor, Viscount Monck, etc., etc."

Accordingly, with the following letter my father received from
the Queen, through Viscount Monck, the Governor-General, his
confirmatory commission, which I insert as a matter of historical
interest.

" Offices of Secretary of State for the Provinces,

" Ottawa, 26th December, 1867.
" Sie, — I have it in command to transmit to you a Warrant under the
Royal Sign Manual and Signet authorizing your appointment to a seat in
the Legislative Council of the Province of Nova Scotia.
" I have the honor to be, Sir,
" Your obedt. servant,

" (Sgd.) Adams G. Archibald,
" Secretary of State for the Provinces.
" To Honble. Daniel McNeill Parker, Halifax, N.'S."

The Royal Warrant was as follows:

Royal
Signet. "(Sgd.) Victoeia R.

" Trusty and Well Beloved, We
Greet you Well.

"We being well satisfied of the
Loyalty, Integrity and Ability of
Our Trusty and Well beloved Daniel
McNeill Parker, Esquire, have
thought fit hereby to signify Our
Will and Pleasure that, forthwith,
"Warrant for the appoint- upon the receipt of these Presents,
ment of Daniel McNeill you do Swear and Admit the said
Parker, Esqre as a Mem- Daniel McNeill Parker to be a Mem-
ber of the Legislative ber of Our Legislative Council of
Council of the Province Our Province of Nova Scotia. And
of Nova Scotia." for so doing this shall be your war-

rant.

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 417

"Given at Our Court at Wind-
sor, this twenty-ninth day of Novem-
ber, One Thousand Eight Hundred
and Sixty-Seven, in the Thirty-First
Year of our Reign.

" By Her Majesty's Command,
" ( Sgd. ) Buckingham and Chaxdos."

This Warrant is endorsed as follows :
" To Our Right Trusty and Well beloved Cousin Charles Stanley
Viscount Monck, Our Governor General of Canada, or, in his
absence, to Our Lieutenant Governor or the Officer Administering
the Government of Our Dominion of Canada for the time being."

At a subsequent period, pursuant to powers given by the Brit-
ish North America Act, the Legislature of Nova Scotia passed an
Act conferring on the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province the
absolute right to nominate the members of the Legislative Council,
as had been done in the Province of Quebec in 1867.

I have been unable to find in the archives of the Province
Building, or in my father's library, any copies of the Debates and
Proceedings of the Legislative Council previous to the year 1875,
nor copies for several of the years subsequent. Reference to those
at hand shows that his contributions to the debates, for the most
part, consisted of brief, pithy, business-like speeches, always to the
point, and of a helpful character because of the facility with
which he would sift out immaterial and irrelevant matter and
grasp the main issue. He did not waste the time of the House
by. much speaking, and he never addressed it without having some-
thing to say that was pertinent and of value. When he spoke he
was forceful, and his utterances never failed to make an impres-
sion. He revealed the trained mind by his power of concentrating
into a few well-chosen sentences much more than some others
would be capable of expressing in a speech of wearisome duration.
His conception of the House was that it met to do business, not
for making speeches ; and often, by leading the business-like men
of the Council into colloquy with himself, he effectually disposed,
in short order, of questions which, but for his qualification for
directing and controlling other minds (somewhat upon the Socratic
method), might have been spun out into hopeless futility. His
reported speeches and more brief remarks or observations dis-
play a thorough familiarity with business affairs of a private
nature, arising out of private bills, and with the public busi-
ness of the Province, touching finance, mines, Crown lands,
education, railways, public charities, the administration of the
law, or what not. To be so thoroughly conversant as he was with
?27

418 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

all questions coming before the House, by bill and otherwise,
evinces the most careful study and preparation at home, — to which
I can bear testimony from observation.

In the Council's Select Committee on Bills he was considered,
as he was in the House, a guiding authority, both from his excel-
lent judgment, his mastery of all the details of bills, and his long
experience in matters of legislation. It was probably in this com-
mittee, which he assiduously attended and for whose work he
sedulously prepared himself in the spirit of a guardian of the
public interest, that his most important services to his country
were performed — apart from public notice or recognition, but
with the utmost devotion to public duty.

At a memorial service in St. Matthew's Church, held in com-
memoration of several members of the Halifax Young Men's
Christian Association who had died during the year 1907, Mr.
Justice Russell, who spoke of my father's life, said that no one
could put more of conscience into the work of legislation than did
he; and the Judge founded this tribute upon his own long experi-
ence as reporter and. legal adviser to the Legislative Council. A
deep-seated, sensitive conscientiousness did, in truth, set its mark
upon my father's labors as a legislator, as in all his work. It
impelled to a faithful thoroughness of mental and physical effort
in the discharge of his duty to the people, both in and out of the
House, which could hardly be excelled.

For the greater part of his term of office he was in opposition
to the Government for the time being. His criticisms of certain
measures of his opponents were often trenchant and telling, some-
times tinctured by a humorous sarcasm which, though touching
the adversary on the raw, yet disarmed anything like asperity in
an attempt to reply, by the good spirit and geniality in which his
attacks were delivered. He was fair and conciliatory to political
foes, and exercised a restraining and controlling influence upon
political friends. Though taunted once upon the floor of the
House with the name of " partisan," and admitting the charge, in
a general sense, he did not hesitate upon some occasions to speak
and vote against his party. His own judgment, his own con-
science were never surrendered to any purely party demand or
consideration.

In public speaking, he spoke, at first, with a peculiar hesitancy
and an audible out-breathing at intervals in his sentences; but
upon getting well into his subject he became- fluent, vivacious,
forcible. He was orderly in arrangement, of thought, cogent in
argument, correct and choice in diction. Though not gifted as an
orator, nor ever attempting oratorical flight, he was an attractive
and excellent public speaker, whether in the Council or upon the
platform, secular or religious.

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 419

His seat in the Legislative Council was the first on the left
of the President, and there was a certain fitness in his occupancy
of that commanding position in the House. He was never, offi-
cially, the leader of his party in the Council (though once in debate
he was termed by an opponent " the whispering foster-father " of
the Holmes-Thompson Government) ; but in another and better
sense he early became a leader there, and, later, the Parliamentary
authority and the Nestor of the House. In the absence of the
President his political opponents were wont to place him in the
chair.

I venture to think that if, during the Fielding regime in Nova
Scotia, a majority of the Legislative Council had been the peers
of the honorable member from Dartmouth, in fidelity to duty, in
personal character, in capacity to think out, shape and guard the
legislation of the Province, there would have been less said and
attempted about the vexed question of Abolition.

His standing in the House, his qualifications of mind and
character, and his services in that forum of his country are so
aptly set forth in the speeches of colleagues, of both parties, in
connection with the resignation from the Council, as quoted in
the monograph on " Daniel McNeill and His Descendants," that it
seems unnecessary to say more by way of describing my father in
his capacity of a legislator.

From the Debates of the Legislative Council the speeches and
short addresses which follow are extracted by way of illustration.
Perhaps his most lengthy speech, so far as the records are avail-
able, was on the bill to establish a Provincial University, in 1876,
upon which occasion he spoke for about three hours against this
bill. This speech, among other matter, contains a strong argu-
ment for the system of denominational colleges as then existing.
The bill passed ; but the " paper university," as my father fore-
told, had a brief and unsuccessful career.

The parliamentary method of reporting speeches in the third
person detracts from their style on perusal, as will be noticed.

Taking the Debates in order of time, the first at hand are those
of the

Session of 1875.

On a resolution condemning the Government's policy concerning
the Annapolis and Digby Railway.

" Hon. Dr. Parker had already expressed himself at some length
upon this question, both during the present session and the one which
preceded it. On both occasions he had taken exception to the working
of the Act which gave rise to this discussion. He (Hon. Dr. P.) had
heard it said that it was difficult to preach from a text that we do not
believe in, but he had never realized the force of that remark so strongly
as since hearing the hon. member from Yarmouth, who seemed to have
a pretty strong conviction that the scheme on its present footing was an

420 DANIEL McNEILL pakker, m.d.

impracticable one. He (Hon. Br. P.) believed that an additional grant
of §2,000 per mile was to be given to the Western Counties Railway
Company this year. He not only feared that this, too, would be insuffi-
cient but that it would give other companies a claim upon the Govern-
ment to come in and ask for similar advantages. He took exception to
the Act, however, for this reason. No Act should be placed upon the
Statute Book, by any Government, one clause of which conflicted with
another. It was their duty to have Acts of this character so worded
that ' he who runs may read.' In the Yarmouth Railway we had a
practical illustration of the evils of the clause under discussion. Its
effects had been and would be disastrous. It seemed that the company
had been unable to obtain the money which they required, so far, in
England, upon the security which they had to offer, and he feared that
that which they had obtained from the Government, as well as that
which they might yet obtain, would be so much unproductive capital,
doing nothing for the country. He felt that a course had been pursued
in reference to the Yarmouth Railway which was not satisfactory unless
we had a positive assurance that the road would be completed. So far,
though 30 miles had been graded, only 9 were in running order, and
even the 30 miles graded had spaces between them not touched at all,
which rendered them comparatively useless. Had the company com-
menced at one end of the line and placed all their work there, we would
have had to-day something that would have been of use to the country.
Practically, the portion now completed was altogether unproductive,
while if the company had gone properly to work we might have had at
least 18 miles in running order. Had this been done the road would
have been in just as good a condition for borrowing purposes, and would
have been productive besides. If we were perfectly assured that the
company were able to carry on their work to completion, it might be well
to adopt the Engineer's plan of commencing it in different places, but in
the present case he (Hon. Br. P.) believed that the other would have
been the better plan. He wished here to call attention to a discrepancy
between the statement laid upon the table of moneys paid out by the
Government, and one laid before a meeting of the Company at Yar-
mouth on Feb. 10th, 1875. The total expenditure to date by this latter
statement was $254,836, while $162,000 of this amount had been received
from the Government, leaving, if this statement were correct, only a
balance of $92,836 as paid by the Company. Papers on the table showed
a Government expenditure up to the 12th March, 1875, of $213,845.
From this take* the above $162,000, and you would have as the amount
paid between Feb. 10th and March 12th, 1875, when the thermometer was
below zero during a good portion of the time, and the snow and ice on
the track must have been in such quantities as to almost preclude pro-
gress and work, the sum of $51,845. Why this money had been paid at a
time when it could not possibly be earned was difficult to say. It was
also stated that two contracts, amounting to $161,000, had been given
out at about this time, upon which $34,000 had been paid. Possibly this
had been because the contractors were in difficulties, and clamorous for
money. The effect that this loose legislation was likely to have upon
the monied men of the Mother Country would do a positive injury to the
Province. If we wished them to invest their money iin the country we
must show them that we could give good security. Capitalists would
make a point before investing their money in the Province, .to enquire
into the character of its legislation and the extent of its liabilities. It
was necessary to be careful. Legislation should be such as could not be
misunderstood.

" The hon. gentleman, in concluding, reiterated his remarks of a
previous day as to the inexpediency of taking mere personal security for
the completion of contracts of this character. The security might be
very good to-day, but no one knew what it might be a short time hence.
He thought the practice a bad one, and trusted that the House would
agree with him in this opinion."

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 421

" HALIFAX ANNIVERSARY BILL.

" The bill to provide for the celebration of the settlement of the city
of Halifax was then taken up on the reading of the first clause.

" Hon. Dr. Parker moved that the further consideration of the bill
be deferred until this day three months.

" The hon. gentleman remarked that he considered such an expendi-
ture as that contemplated by the bill entirely unnecessary. The taxation
of the city of Halifax was annually growing. It amounted now to a
million and a half if not more, and though a thousand dollars was not
in itself a large sum. yet if it were made an annual charge it would
amount in course of time to something considerable. As it was it repre-
sented a capital of $17,000, which, if applied to some proper object,
would be quite unobjectionable. It was true that the bill had passed in
the City Council by a comparatively large vote, but yesterday he had met
one of the Aldermen on the street who begged, if possible, that the Bill
should not be allowed to pass for the reasons which he had stated. The
argument of Hon. Mr. Cochran was that the expenditure of this money
would afford the poorer classes a day of recreation. If that were all, and
the citizens felt disposed to contribute towards such an object, he should
not object. But there were many other holidays, and when he looked at
their effects, and what took place on them, he was not sure that they
were of any great advantage. We had horse races, drinking booths, and
a good deal of dissipation on such days. It would be remembered that
when we had a sculling match here between Brown and Biglin every
newspaper in the city came out and said that they hoped we would never
have a repetition of such scenes as occurred then. The 21st of June,
being to a great extent under aldermanic supervision, might not lead to
dissipation to such an extent but to his mind it had a demoralizing effect
upon the community. The amount of labor that was thrown out of gear
was considerable. Employers were put to great inconvenience, and
workmen often were not fit for their duties for the next week, and their
families suffered in consequence. There were many other ways in which
the poorer classes could enjoy themselves. We had the Public Gardens,
the Park and other places to which they might resort.

" He expressed the feeling of the heaviest tax-paying portion of the
community. If the Aldermen wished for such a celebration they should
provide it at their own expense."

The motion was adopted.

On a resolution to amend the constitution of the House by
reduction of membership, and otherwise.

(
" Hon. Dr. Parker observed that this matter was not a new one to him.
He had often thought of it before. If his friends had come into power
this session he had a programme which he had intended to propose to
them. First upon it was the reduction in the number of the Council.
Next came the roads and bridges; next, the public printing; next, the
consolidation of the Crown Lands and Mines Offices; next, the extension
to Canso; and, lastly, stop the County Courts, if possible. That would
have been his programme had he been a member of Government, which
he never hoped to be. The measure which he would have urged upon his
friends then, he was here to advocate to-day. In the history of the
Council there never had been a time when the proposed change could be
as advantageously made as now. The Government had a majority of he
could not exactly say what, and could be put to no inconvenience by the
change. The necessity for keeping the membership up to its present rate
did not exist now as it did in preceding years. When members were
brought in, and the number raised again to 21, some years ago the Gov-
ernment had not a majority here, and there was a necessity for their

422 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

action. Looking at the relative numbers of this and the other House
(21 to 38), it would be seen that they were out of all proportion. A
smaller number of active, intelligent men would be quite sufficient. The
subject of representation by population, though well to be kept in mind,
had more application to the popular branch of the Legislature. He saw
no necessity for bringing it in here. Neither was it absolutely necessary
that every county should be represented. If it had been so considered a
short time since, it might have been carried out. Here we had, however,
a representation of four members from Halifax when other counties had
none. It was desirable that there should be more than one member from
Halifax, but was not strictly essential that there should be three or four.
The use to which this body was sometimes put was to hold it out to some
independent member in another place as a means of securing his vote.
It was to be regretted that this had been so in the past, and he trusted
that the same story would not have to be told of it in the future. If the
appointments to this House were even made elective, which idea had
been thrown out by an hon. member, it had much better be abolished alto-
gether. Such a mode of appointment would be foreign to the purpose of
these bodies, and might bring in a class of men whose presence would not
be desirable. The proposal to reduce the pay of members, while it might
not be unobjectionable to the city members, might not be acceptable to
those of the country, who came from a distance, and were under expenses
while here."

The resolution was lost.

Session of 1877.

On the following resolution concerning the Great Seal of the
Province,

" Resolved, That it is inconsistent with the duty of the Government
any longer to either entertain or use the old Great Seal of the Province,
as by so doing the Government would be acting in direct opposition to
the explicit direction and authority of our Sovereign Lady the Queen."

The explanation of this resolution is that upon the consum-
mation of Confederation, in 1867, the Queen, in Council, had
authorized a Great Seal for Canada, and a new one for each of
the constituent Provinces, which seals were transmitted by the
British Secretary of State for the Colonies with the request (tanta-
mount to a command, and based upon Order-in-Council) that the
old Provincial seals should be given up to the British Government
to be cancelled. But the bitterness of the Anti-Confederate Gov-
ernment of Nova Scotia, which obtained power toward the close
of the year 1867, led it to disregard the British Order-in-Council
with the pursuant request and to enter upon a childish and futile
correspondence with the Colonial Secretary, looking to the reten-
tion of the old seal of Nova Scotia in lieu of the one authorized.
This attitude of the Nova Scotia Government was closely associated
with the efforts then being made by the Anti-Confederate party to
take the Province out of the Union. Meanwhile, and up to 1877,
the old seal was being used by the Government upon Crown grants
and licenses, commissions and all other public documents requiring
the Provincial seal, and the question of its validity had come before
the Supreme Court.

POLITICS AXD THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 423

" Hon. Dr. Parker said it was likely that a large proportion of the
population of the Province would think it a strange thing that what
appeared to be no more than a small piece of metal, inscribed with a
device and motto, should occupy so much of the time and attention of the
Legislature; but when we consider the relation the Great Seal bore to
the State, we are not surprised that it should on all occasions produce a
marked effect, when any irregularity arises in connection with its use.
The hon. gentleman who had just sat down (Hon. Mr. Morrison) had
shown how in the Mother Country, governments, and the whole body
politic, had frequently been disturbed in this way. We found that the
Great Seal had been used from the earliest ages. It was hardly neces-
sary for him to go back, and show the relation it bore to the State, as
related in Old Testament history, which must be familiar to many mem-
bers of the House. But, coming down more to our own times, we found
that anterior, to the Norman Conquest it had hardly any existence in
England. The general custom of using a seal was introduced into that
country by the Normans, who brought it from their own land. The first
authentic charter of which there was a trace in England bearing a seal,
without a signature, was that given by Edward the Confessor to West-
minster Abbey some time in the eleventh century- He only referred to
these facts to show the important bearing which the use of a seal had in
English institutions. At one time the Scotch used "the seal altogether,
but afterward, by act of Parliament, it was made imperative that a signa-
ture should accompany it. One thing that was particularly to be noticed
in connection with the subject was that there could be but one Seal of
State; and in England, whatever may have been the case in the past, the
use of the Great Seal was guarded with extreme jealousy, far more so
than appeared to be the case here. There was an old saying that there
could not be two Kings in Brentford. It ought to be equally true that
there could not be two Great Seals in Nova Scotia, but before closing he
would not only show that there were two, but that they had been used
on important public documents It would not do for the people of Scot-
land to insist upon the right to use the seal of Robert Bruce, however
affectionately they might regard it. Neither would it do for the English
to claim the right to use the Seal of Edward the Confessor. Both must
sink their individual interests, and use the seal that they received from
the Crown. Neither would it do for a body of gentlemen constituting an
Executive Council in any part of the British Dominions to disregard any
seal that they might be ordered by Her Majesty to use, by pleading an
attachment to another seal; though this was precisely the condition of
affairs at which the resolution now under discussion was aimed. The
right of the Queen tb establish a new seal, and direct its use, was gen-
erally admitted. It was admitted by the Executive Council themselves in
the words:

" ' The council, while freely recognizing the right of Her Majesty the
Queen, to change and alter the Great Seal of the Province at pleasure,'
etc. But, notwithstanding that they admitted the right, they acted in
disobedience to it. The documents before the House showed the great
care with which matters of this kind were treated in the Mother Country.
The one coming first in order was the warrant of Her Majesty, command-
ing the armorial bearings to be assigned to the Provinces of the newly
created Dominion. On the 8th May the five seals for the Dominion and
the Provinces respectively were transmitted to the Governor-General by
Lord Granville, together with the Queen's warrant directing the use of
the Seals for all things whatsoever that shall pass the Great Seal of the
Dominion and the four Provinces, and also the return of the old Seals in
order to their being defaced. The next document was a despatch from
Mr. Howe, Secretary of State for the Provinces, to Sir Hastings Doyle,
transmitting copies of correspondence with the Imperial Government
respecting the altering of the seals of the Provinces, a copy of the warrant
granting armorial bearings to the several Provinces and stating that the
Great Seal for this Province would be forwarded on the first fitting

424 DANIEL McKEILL PARKEB, M.D.

opportunity. The despatch directed the Lieutenant-Governor, immediately
on receipt of the Seal, to take steps for carrying out Her Majesty's
pleasure, and also to transmit the old Seal with a view to its being
defaced. We had here, connectedly, a history of the whole transaction,
wihich must leave on our minds an idea of the importance of the subject
under discussion, and which must teach us that it was no light matter to
delay placing this Seal in use in opposition to the commands of Her
Majesty. He (Hon. Dr. P.) attached as much importance to that war-
rant of Her Majesty as he would have done to an Act of Parliament, had
such been necessary, to repeal the use of the old Seal. This was more
particularly true when we consider the extent to which this country was
governed by despatches. It was as binding upon us to pay attention to
commands conveyed in this way, as if we received an Act of Parliament
assented to by Her Majesty. The Government of 1869, which was respon-
sible for this act of disobedience, was an Anti-Union Government, but they
should have remembered that they were dealing not with the Dominion but
with the Imperial authorities. He (Hon. Dr. P.) thought that they would
now regret that portion of their proceedings, which placed them in hostility,
not to the Dominion Government, but to the Imperial Government. The
allusion in the Queen's Warrant to the Seal of the Dominion, to be com-
posed of the arms of the four Provinces quartered, had in his (Hon. Dr. P.'s)
opinion, an importance not generally attached to it. Suppose that the
Seal at present used in Nova Scotia, which did not form one of the
quarterings of the Seal of the Dominion, to be held to be the legal one.
In such a case, what became of the Great Seal of the Dominion? We
would have confusion worse confounded at Ottawa. If the Great Seal of
the Dominion were invalid as not bearing the arms of the four Provinces
quartered, as it was required to do, and as it did not do, if the seal now
in use in this Province were the legal one, even the Lieutenant-Governor,
who received his commission under the Great Seal of the Dominion,
would not be properly qualified. He thought that sufficient attention had
not been paid to this point. A few days ago an hon. member had
promised to settle the question by putting a hook in the nose of this
leviathan. He had a leviathan to handle, and one that he (Hon. Dr. P.)
thought he would find it difficult to manage with all his skill.

A good deal has been said about the memorandum of the Minister of
Justice referring to the seal of the Dominion and the seals of the Province.
But he (Hon. Dr. P.) maintained that that memorandum was nothing
more than an argument, suggesting that the same rights and privileges
enjoyed by the larger Provinces of Ontario and Quebec should be con-
ferred on Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The Minister of Justice had
no doubt that Her Majesty had the sole power to order and change at will
the Great Seal of the Dominion. His question was whether, under the
altered position of the Provinces caused by the British North America
Act, the power to fix the Great Seals of the Provinces did not rest else-
where. He called attention to the provision of the Act that the seals of
Ontario and Quebec should be of the same design as those of Upper and
Lower Canada respectively, and inferred that if the Lieutenant-Governors
of Ontario and Quebec had the sole right of altering the great seals of
these Provinces at pleasure, the same authority ought to be held to exist
in the Lieutenant-Governors of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He did
not convey the impression that it was settled, but merely that it was a
question for argument. He (Hon. Dr. P.) thought that probably the seals
of Upper and Lower Canada were sent in the usual course to England to
be defaced, and that the Provinces under their new names received new
seals of similar design to the old ones. He concurred in the propriety of
seeking to have Nova Scotia and New Brunswick placed on an equal foot-
ing with the larger Provinces. Because we were less in population he did
not see why we should not have the same privileges. But, however
proper this might be, the fact appeared to be that we had not the same
privileges. In the same way he might say that he did not see why this
House did not enjoy the same privileges as the other House in regard to

POLITICS AXD THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 425

money bills. The fact was sufficient that we did not, and that if we
attempted to make an alteration in a money bill it would be at once
returned to us. He (Hon. Dr. P.) could not help alluding to a high com-
pliment which had been paid Sir John A. Macdonald by the Provincial
Secretary, who had called that gentleman the ablest constitutional lawyer
in the Dominion of Canada. He (Hon. Dr. P.) quite concurred in the
propriety of that observation, and believed that the history of his seven
years of government would bear testimony to the correctness of the esti-
mate. The reply of Earl Granville to the memorandum of Sir John A.
Macdonald, just referred to, was proof positive to his (Hon. Dr. P.'s) mind
that the new seal sent to this Province was the seal to be used in connec-
tion with all public documents to give them validity. Earl Granville's
opinion was that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick not being mentioned in
the Act, the powers previously vested in the Queen with regard to the ap-
pointment of their seals could not be held to be taken away by implication.
The 133rd section of the Act provided that the French language should
be used in the Courts of Quebec. His hon. friend from Arichat (Hon. Mr.
Martell) might as well rise and contend that because Nova Scotia was
not mentioned, the French language should be used in our, courts, as for
anyone to give powers to this Province by implication in regard to the
establishing of the Great Seal, because similar powers had been given in
terms to other Provinces. On December 10th, 1869, General Doyle
acknowledged the receipt of the new seal, and engaged to transmit the
old one. The hon. member who had preceded him had said that he did
not believe that there was a President of the Privy Council at that date.
General Doyle said positively that he had received the seal at the hands
of the Privy Council, and it was not to be assumed that he had made a
misstatement. He wished to call attention to the words in which the
Lieutenant-Governor engaged to return the old seal. There were no
conditions about his language. Nothing could be more positive, and
when a Governor made a promise like that, the inference was that he
intended to keep it. He could not say why it was that General Doyle
had never returned the old seal in accordance with his promise.

" Hon. Mr. Morrison said that perhaps he had never found the con-
venient season.

" Hon. Dr. Parker said that possibly the explanation was that the
person who had charge of the seal would not hand it over; but it is
likely that General Doyle would himself think it proper to give the
required information. He would now refer to another despatch of Sir
Hastings Doyle, bearing date 7th February, 1870, addressed to the
Secretary of State at Ottawa, enclosing the Minute of Council of the
Province of Nova Scotia deprecating any alteration in the Great Seal
and requesting that it be brought to the notice of His Excellency the
Governor-General ' in order that the same may, if he sees fit, be trans-
mitted to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.' This despatch
struck him as being a masterpiece of sarcasm. It suggested that, in
the opinion of the Lieutenant-Governor, it was not at all necessary the
despatch should go any further. It suggested also that the action of
his Council, in disregarding the command of Her Majesty, was dis-
loyal. It was quite clear that the Governor-General did not see fit
to forward that Minute of Council. On the 6th of February, 1874, Lord
Kimberly addressed a circular despatch to the officers administering
the Government of the different colonies of the empire, desiring to be
furnished with copies or impressions of the Arms or Seals of the
colonies. On the 17th of March a copy of the despatch was forwarded
by the Under-Secretary of State to the Lieutenant-Governor, asking for
two copies or good impressions of the Arms and Seal of the Province of
Nova Scotia. On the 4th March following, Lieutenant-Governor Archi-
bald, in accordance with the request, enclosed two copies of the Great
Seal of this Province. He (Hon. Dr. P.) had asked to be informed
whether the copies so sent were taken from the old seal or from the new
seal, and the hon. treasurer (Hon. Mr. Brown) had replied that they

426 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

were taken from the old seal. Had His Honor the Lieutenant-
Governor been aware of the existence of this secret correspondence, or
of the fact that there was this other seal in the Provincial Secretary's
office he (Hon. Dr. P.) assumed that he would, in obedience to Lord
Kimberley's request, have demanded that the copies forwarded should
be taken from the new seal. He would like here to call attention again
to the fact which had been brought out several days ago, that on the
4th series of the Revised Statutes there was a copy of what was in fact
the new seal. He had asked by wliat authority this copy had been placed
there but there appeared to be a painful want of information on the sub-
ject. The Hon. Treasurer could not say who authorized it. He (Hon. Dr.
P.) maintained that that seal must have been placed there by the authority
of some member of the Government. It could not else have got there.
The Hon. Treasurer had assumed that two copies of the Revised Statutes
having this seal were sent to the Colonial Office in accordance with the
usual practice. The result of this was that we had two Great Seals in
use in this province, the new seal having been used on one of the most
important public documents that could emanate from any Government,
viz., the" laws of the land. He had no doubt that every person who had
read this correspondence would regret the secrecy that had been main-
tained in regard to it. Not only were the outside public kept in ignor-
ance of its existence, but even the Legislature knew nothing of it. The
Government of the day exercised authority in regard to the corre-
spondence that no Government should have exercised. Both the public
and the Legislature ought to have been acquainted with its existence.
In the last clause of the minute of Council it was said that the people
of Nova Scotia were warmly attached to the old Seal. The language
used would convey the impression that the Seal had been in use here for
centuries, but instead of that being the case we found that it had only
been in use since the accession of Her Majesty. He did not believe one
man in a hundred had ever heard of or seen this seal, or that any
member of the House, with the exception perhaps of the President, if he
were placed in the witness box and the seal placed in his hands, could
swear to its identity. What expression then would be strong enough to
characterize the language of that Minute. One might infer from it that
the whole people of Nova Scotia were in a lachrymose state because the
seal to which they were supposed to be so affectionately attached was to
be withdrawn. He would say that had the people of Nova Scotia known
that Her Majesty had commanded the use of this other seal, and had
this correspondence, which was secreted in the office of some member of
the Government, been laid before them, the loyalty of the people would
have coerced the Government into yielding obedience to the commands
of Her Majesty. He believed that the new seal should have been put
into use as soon as it was received from the Governor-General. He did
not consider a proclamation necessary, as none had ever been made in
a previous case. In New Brunswick the seal had been proclaimed, and
the old one sent to England immediately. The only explanation he
could offer why a proclamation had been made in New Brunswick was,
that the new seals had been proclaimed in Ontario and Quebec, and that
in New Brunswick it was considered that while a proclamation would
give the matter publicity it could do no harm. How much better it
would have been had the Government of Nova Scotia acted in the same
loyal spirit as the Government of New Brunswick. In the latter Pro-
vince they had as Attorney-General a man at once able and loyal, and
they had also an able constitutional lawyer at the head of the Govern-
ment. There everything was going on harmoniously. Here there was
nothing but confusion and disorder. We had been made the laughing
stock of the whole continent, if not of the Mother Country too. The
position of the present Government of Nova Scotia was a very peculiar
one. He did not accuse them of having acted wrongly up to a certain
date. The Provincial Secretary said that he was ignorant that such a
seal and correspondence had any existence. He believed that the Hon.
Treasurer was ignorant of any wrong intention too. As he had said,

POLITICS AXD THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 427

they could not be charged with a dereliction of duty up to a certain
time. But when that moment arrived — when they once became aware
of what had occurred — they should not have hesitated a moment as to
their course. Instead of that they had assumed the position of defen-
ders of the late Government. They said that correspondence was still
going on, and until that was ended the matter was not definitely settled.
The only correspondence was a Minute of Council, which the Lieutenant-
Governor sent to Mr. Howe to be submitted to the Governor-General and
sent to the Secretary of State for the Colonies or not, as he pleased. The
moment the despatch of Lord Granville was placed in the hands of the
Lieutenant-Governor, that moment the whole responsibility was thrown
upon the Government of Nova Scotia. The Dominion Government had
performed their part. It remained for the Government of Nova Scotia
to do theirs. It was quite proper for the Government to ask to be placed
on the same footing with the Governments of Ontario and Quebec. He
would have joined them in that, but the first thing that he would have
done would have been to adopt the new seal. His first act would have
been one of obedience. Then he would have insisted on our right to be
placed on an equality with the other Provinces. He did not see why a
Judge in Nova Scotia, who exercised the same functions as a Judge in
Ontario or Quebec, should not be paid in precisely the same way.
There should be no distinction made between them. He had asked
the other day for information as to what documents required the
addition of the Great Seal to give them validity, and he had been
referred to the Revised Statutes). He had been unable to find the
information sought for there, and he thought the Government ought
to have supplied it. He thought this was a question that the Govern-
ment should turn their attention to, in order that we might be kept
out of difficulty. It was said that marriage licenses were valid because
they bore the seal of the Lieutenant-Governor, but they required as well
the signature of the Provincial Secretary, whose commission was
required to be under the Great Seal. If therefore, that officer had never
been properly appointed, it looked as if even the marriage licenses might
be invalid. It was a rather interesting question to know who was the
proper custodian of the Great Seal in this Province. We were told
that it was kept in the office of the Provincial Secretary. He (Hon.
Dr. P.) thought that it ought to be in the hands of the Lieutenant-
Governor; that it should be affixed by him, and by him alone. It was
admitted that a great error had been committed, and it was our duty
to rectify it as speedily as possible. The highest judicial authorities
in the Province had decided against the legality of the old seal. The
Attorney-General of the Province, in referring to the matter a day or
two since, had pointed out this difficulty in passing an Act to legalize
the acts which had been done under the old seal: that if the seal were
illegal, the Parliament which had been summoned under it was illegal
too. The only constitutional way that he (Hon. Dr. P.) could see out
of the difficulty was that some of us here be sent about our business, and
that a new Parliament be summoned under the new seal. This was
the only deduction he could form from the opinion given by the Crown
Law Officer. He thought it was the duty of the House to adopt the
resolution now under discussion. It might be voted down now, but he
believed that, in after years, the principle embodied in it would be
sustained."

Session of 1878.

On the report of a committee on the Memorial of Stephen
Selden for the revival of a Department of Vital Statistics (which
Memorial my father had presented).

428 DAKIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

"Hon. Dr. Parker said that there was one point in connection with
the department to which he would like to refer before the discussion
closed. One feature of the work that would be performed by jthe
officers of the department was to report the number of deaths from
various causes in different sections of the country. In certain counties
what were known as zymotic diseases, such as diphtheria, scarlet fever,
and others, prevailed to a large extent. If the head of the department
found any disease prevailing to an unusual extent in any particular
locality there should be an investigation held which would likely elicit
facts, showing the existence of local causes which produced the results.
It would then be the duty of the officer to report to the Government,
who if the cause was preventable, could see to its removal. In tbis
country it had been the habit of people to erect houses without paying
sufficient attention to drainage. Sometimes drains were carried too near
wells of water, the water became poisoned in consequence and created
disease in the persons who drank it. Such facts as these at once
suggested practical legislation. There ought to be certain county or
civic authorities who could be applied to in reference to such matters,
and to whom plans of drains would have to be submitted for approval.
It had been estimated that a life in Canada was worth to the country
$500. If 20,000 deaths occurred in the course of a year from preventable
causes, it would, according to his calculation, involve a loss to the
country of $10,000,000. The fact that deaths from these causes affected
chiefly the laboring classes, showed that this question was intimately
associated with the question of labor. It also affected the question of
emigration, for any man who thought of emigrating would obtain the
vital statistics of various countries and where the death rate was the
smallest there he was most likely to carry his family and himself. In
France a health bill had been passed in 1842 which, shortly after its
passage, had reduced the death rate from one in thirty-six to one in
thirty-nine, and, subsequently, to one in forty-seven. There a decrease
of nearly thirty-three per cent, had been effected by proper legislation.
Germany, Austria and Russia were all dealing with the subject, and also
many of the States of the neighboring Union. In England no less than
fifty public health bills had been passed within a comparatively short
period. In the city of London, through this instrumentality, they had
effected the remarkable reduction in the death rate from forty per
thousand to twenty. He trusted that these facts would impress hon.
members with the importance of having in this country a proper system
of vital statistics, or, in other words, a system for the registration of
births, deaths and marriages."

On the discussion of this memorial at another stage,

"Hon. Dr. Parker was glad his hon. friend had brought this subject
up again, and he would take the opportunity to mention a few circum-
stances connected with the office. When the office was organized in
1864 it was looked upon as an important one. and a very efficient officer
was placed in charge of it. From that time forward the office had gone
on doing good and substantial work for the country, the reports contain-
ing a 'vast fund of information that ought to be of great use. When
the present Dominion Government came into power, they pensioned the
head officer and appointed a successor. They had now abolished the
office, and were paying pensions to Mr. Costley's successor, together
with the other officials. As the matter stood at present the Government
were paying away the sum of $2,000 in pensions, the office had been
closed, and the public were not deriving a particle of benefit. This was
a great hardship. At the same time he might mention that the person
placed aside Iby the Dominion Government had a claim of $294.50
against the office in regard to which he had never been able to obtain
any satisfaction. In the year 1872 the Sessions of Halifax County
objected to pay certain moneys to the Registrar, on the ground that in

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 429

1867 the Dominion had assumed the care of matters relating to statistics,
and had relieved the Province of the burden. A case was made up on
the point with the sanction of the Dominion Government, and referred
to the Supreme Court of this Province. The decision of the court,
which was delivered by the late Mr. Justice McCully, was to the effect
that the matter was no longer under the control of the Local Government
and that the responsibility for the work done in connection with the office
rested with the Government of the Dominion. He (Hon. Dr. P.)i
concurred that a great injustice had been done the Province by thd
abolition of the office, and hoped that prompt action would be taken to
provide a_ remedy. We could hardly tell what injury would result.
He had already/ referred to the relation of the office to health, emigration,
and other subjects. The action that he would suggest would be a joint
resolution addressed to the Dominion Government from both branches
of the Legislature. If the office were revived the persons who now
received pensions could be placed in harness again, or in the event of
their refusal, the Government would have the right to cease payment
of their pensions."

Although the report of the committee was favorable to the
memorial, the Department was not re-established until 1908.

Public Charities Bill.

This Bill now being taken up for its second reading:

"Hon. Dr. Parker said that before the bill passed its second reading
he wished to make a few observations in regard to it. He did not
complain of the appointment of a committee of management for the
asylum for the insane, for he was aware that that institution had
suffered in years past for want of such a committee. He did not
take exception to the principle of the Bill before the House. His great
objection to it was that although there were several things in the Bill
that could be amended with advantage, we were given to understand
that no amendment would be permitted because it was a Government
Bill. He had on a previous occasion called attention to the clause in
the Lieutenant-Governor's speech referring to the recent investigation
into the affairs of the Insane Asylum, in which it was assumed that
the appointment of a commission appointed for that purpose, was made
under the authority of a recommendation from the committee on
Humane Institutions appointed by this House and by the House of
Assembly at the last ses~sion of the Legislature. He had taken exception
to this assumption at the time, and he did not now believe that the
reports could be so construed — the subject had already been dealt with
at considerable length, and the time of the committees of both Houses
taken up day by day and almost all the material facts elicited that
were brought out by the commission. The expenses of the commission,
including fees to commissioners, travelling expenses, and reporting and
printing, would make a sum total of between two and three thousand
dollars, and yet this costly report had overtaken nothing more than
could have been accomplished by an enquiry conducted by the govern-
ment themselves. Dr. DeWolf, Dr. Praser, and one or two subordinates
had been placed on trial. They claimed that they should have been
permitted to be present to hear and cross-examine the witnesses who
gave evidence against them. That which they claimed was sound in
principle and should have been assented to. Any man placed on trial
in this country has the opportunity, or should have, of hearing the
testimony of the witnesses against him, and which may affect him.
This right was not afforded to these gentlemen. They had not the
opportunity of replying to the charges against them, and the testimony
was not read over to them when they demanded it. Such a course

430 DANIEL McNEILL PARKEE, M.D.

was not in accordance witth British justice or British usage. It was
true that they had the opportunity of being examined in relation to
facts elicited from the examination of previous witnesses, but that
was a very different thing from having those facts stated by the
witnesses in the presence of the parties charged who could then have
had the opportunity of refuting, or, at all events, of cross-examining
•them. He was free to admit that irregularities had occurred in
connection with the institution to which he referred, but he believed
they were such as could have been cured by a direct supervision of a
Board of Commissioners. Hitherto the Commissioner of Mines and
Works had had practically the entire control. There was a Board of
Commissioners it was true, but what authority had they? None what-
ever. Their duties consisted of going through the wards, inspecting
them, and making a report. These Commissioners were disposed to
do their duty, deal faithfully with the institution, and had the Govern-
ment placed it more fully under their control the over-expenditure of which
we had heard in past years would not have occurred. During all these
years, though, the Government were silent. They had heard all these
charges in relation to over-expenditure, and, more especially, in regard
to the comparative expenditure between our asylum and those in other
places, but they took no action and the expenditure continued the same
year after year. In consequence of this neglect a large amount had
been lost to the Province and the parties who were largely chargeable
for these sins of omission and commission were the Government
themselves.

" In regard to the change made in the officials he would not say aught
against the gentleman who was to be Dr. DeWolf's successor. Dr.
Reid was a clever man and physician, but he (Dr. P.) had maintained
outside, and he would maintain here, that the head of an institution
of this character should be a trained man, having had an experience
of not less than three years in institutions of a similar character, and
he thought the Government had committed a mistake in not procuring
such a one. No doubt Dr. Reid's capabilities were such that in a few
years he would be familiar with the details of such a position, but he
was not so prepared to-day. He (Hon. Dr. P.) could speak as to the
duties devolving upon the incumbent of such an office as Dr. Reid was
about to enter upon, with an authority derived from experience, having
been for some years at the head of the Board of Commissioners, and
had a part in the organization of the institution.

" The Bill before the House proposed to deal with the management
of the institution in combination with several other institutions. It
appointed a Board of five Commissioners, the Chairman of the Board
being the Commissioner of Works, and Mines. In the course of three
years there had been some three changes in that office. We had had Mr.
Robertson twice, the late Attorney-General once, and now we had Mr.
Gayton. We were now placing at the head of the Board a man who
came in to-day and might go out to-morrow. He did not say Mr. Gayton
would go out. He merely suggested the possibility. The experience
gained in a few months would thus be lost, and would have to^ be
acquired by someone else. If there were so many shifts in this office
the institution would necessarily suffer in its material interests. The
next officer was the Mayor of the City of Halifax, who was to be a
member of the Board ex officio. He did not say that the present mayor
and his predecessors were not men of stability, but they were in one
year and out the next. The training acquired by one would be lost when
the next came in. This idea of constant change in connection with
such an institution as the one he referred to did not strike him as being
In accordance with its Interests. Besides this the Mayor of Halifax
had no official connection with the institution on the other side of the
water. His position in regard to the Poor's Asylum and the Hospital
was different. The city was directly interested in these institutions to
the amount of $100,000, as it paid interest upon the debentures to that

POLITICS AXD THE LEGISLATIVE COUXCIL 431

amount in consequence of expenditure incurred in connection with them.
It was therefore incumbent upon the mayor to exercise some supervision
over the Poor's Asylum and the Provincial and City Hospital; but, in
connection with the Insane Asylum, he had no such responsibility.
In regard to that institution it was just as he might see fit whether he
would act or not. That he could give much time to such an object was
hardly to be expected, as most persons holding the office of mayor
wished to give what time they could afford from their official duties
to their own private business, and would usually be too much occupied
with other matters to give much attention to the performance of a duty
for which they were to receive no compensation. In regard to the
Superintendent, the Bill required him to be a person who had been in
actual practice for a period of not less than ten years. Such a provision
as this was all right; but we should not forget how it might affect -the
position of the Assistant Superintendent. A man after five years' practice
might take the position of Assistant Superintendent. After he had been
in that position for three years, and had had the advantage of all the
special training that his position would enable him to acquire, in case
of a vacancy in the position of Superintendent, the Assistant would be
prevented from taking it, and it would be necessary to go out and call
in some one else who. while he might have been in practice ten years,
would be altogether wanting in the training that the Assistant had
acquired, and which was of the first importance. It would be necessary
to commence de novo. He (Hon. Dr. P.") maintained that if we had
in the institution an assistant who had in all respects performed his
duties satisfactorily, and had had four or five years' practice, and would
bring some degree of talent to the position, in case a vacancy occurred in
the position of Superintendent the Assistant should be promoted to the
position. So far as the Bill prevented this the principle was erroneous,
and was such as no one would think of applying to his own private
affairs. We were informed that no amendments could be entertained to
the Bill, but he trusted that this feature of it would be amended at an
early day.

" There was another matter to which he would like to direct attention.
The Secretary of the Board ought to be the servant of the Board. The
gentleman appointed to the office would make a most efficient officer,
but was constantly employed under the Government in the Mines office,
and the Board consequently could not exercise that control over him that
it was necessary for such an organization to possess over their Secretary.
This was an objection to the Bill which he regretted to see, inasmuch
as it gave it a political appearance. For years past we had heard a great
deal of the debts due this institution from the various counties. It was
to be feared that the Chairman of the Board being a departmental officer
of the Government would be subject to influences which would not permit
him to get from the Counties the amounts that ought annually to be
collected. The amount due this year, he understood, was nearly as
large as last year. He had always felt that if an independent Board of
Commissioners had the control of this matter it would not be in the
position in which it was. He believed that the Board, as constituted by
the Bill, was too small to carry on the work as it should be done. The
Chairman was the head of a department, and had other duties; and
the mayor might attend or he might not. No one knew, who had not
had actual experience, how much time would be occupied. It would take
half a day to merely go through the institution at Dartmouth. Another
feature of the Bill that was objectionable was the provision that no
appropriation of money could be made at a meeting of the Board at
which the Chairman was not present. He felt that great practical incon-
venience would result from this. If the members of the Board were
nominated by the Government, they ought to be able to place some confi-
dence in them, yet they were precluded from dealing in any way with
financial matters, unless the political head of the Board was present to
influence and to guide them. Such a provision placed the Board in a
position differing little from that of the inspecting commissioners who had

432 0ANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

performed the duties hitherto. If they were to have no other authority
than this, the matter might almost as well have been left where it was.
The Board would feel quite as competent to deal with financial matters as
their Chairman, and should not be deprived of the authority which this
clause took from them.

" He would now turn for a moment to the position of the City of
Halifax, as it was affected by the Bill before the House. The following
extract from the minutes of the City Council on this point had been
placed in his hands.

" ' Extract from Minutes of City Council,

"'March 20th, 1878.

" ' Whereas, it has been brought to the notice of this Council that a
Bill has been introduced into the Legislature, the effect of which will be
in a measure to take away from the citizens of Halifax the representa-
tion they now have on the Board of Commissioners of the City Hospital
and Poor's Asylum, and whereas the City of Halifax is liable for a sum
of one hundred and one thousand dollars on said buildings, and contributes
towards the support of the Poor's Asylum about eighty per cent, of the
total expenditure,

" 'Therefore, resolved, That the matter be referred to the Committee of
Laws and Privileges with instructions to place the matter before the
Legislature, and to represent the great injustice that will be done the City
of Halifax should any Bill be passed the effect of which would be to
give the City of Halifax any less representation on the said Board for
the management of said institution than they at present have.

" ' A true extract.

" ' (Signed) Thos. Rhind,

" ' City Clerk.'

" At present the Board of Commissioners managing the Hospital and
Poor's Asylum consists of twelve members. 'Eight of these were appointed
by the Lieutenant-Governor. The Mayor of Halifax was a member ex
officio, and the civic authorities, who had such a large stake in the
institutions, appointed three. In 1866, when the Act was passed giving
the civic authorities this right, he (Hon. Dr. P.) had agreed in the
opinions of the corporation of the day, and had joined with them in
urging upon the Government their claim to a representation upon the
Board in proportion to their interest in the institutions. That was one-
third of the representation. The city had enjoyed that right ever since,
and he was in a position to say that their representatives had very
faithfully performed their duties. He could not lay his finger on any man
who had not given the necessary attendance upon the meetings of the
Board. Whenever a new man came in there were always more experienced
men present upon whose information he could draw. The total cash expen-
diture of the Poor's Asylum, last year, was $25,166.03. Of this amount
upwards of $16,000 were contributed by the Government, $4,618.86, or
about one-fifth, by the City of HaLifax, and $1,425 were derived from
other sources. The hospital derived from the provincial treasury the
sum of $4,000, from the City of Halifax $3,945.72, from the marine and
fisheries department about $2,200, and one or two small sums from
other sources. From this it would appear that the City of Halifax,
last year, paid within a few dollars of the amount paid by the Province.
Yet in the future, it was to be deprived of a voice in the management of
these institutions. He contended that this would be an injustice to the
city. He was aware it would be argued that the City of Halifax would
practically have the whole representation, because the commissioners
would necessarily be selected from the city, but it was one thing to select
the Board from a community and another to have a portion of it appointed
by the community. It struck him as being, to a. certain extent, a blow
at what was known as responsible government, and the old tories were

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 433

in this case the parties sustaining the principles of responsible govern-
ment, while the liberals were the parties attacking them. He thought
that when the people came to read the Bill they would not feel that they
had been dealt with on liberal principles.

" The institution at Dartmouth was a more expensive one to maintain
than that at St. John. The heating would cost, probably, not less than fifty
per cent. more. The system of treatment had also been different, there
being three attendants in our institution, where, in St. John, they had
but two. The bill before the House provided for two assistants, one to
be paid $450 and the other $350. One had sufficed before and one
would do now. The salary had been reduced, it was true, but, on the
other hand, the assistants had to be maintained.

" A member of the City Council had submitted the proposition to him
(Hon. Dr. P.) that if the Legislature took away from the city the right
it previously enjoyed of being represented at the Board, they should
assume the liability of $100,000 at present borne by the city. He had
little doubt that the citizens of Halifax would feel very grateful if the
Legislature acted upon this suggestion. In reference to the appointment
of the commission all that the report has suggested to his mind was
that the matter should be left to the Government, and not that they should
go to heavy expenses to elicit facts that were already known."

On a bill to unite the offices of Provincial Secretary and Pro-
vincial Treasurer,

"Hon. Dr. Parker quite concurred in the remarks of Hon. Mr.
Creelman in reference to the number of members of the Executive Council
and the expense connected with that body. He could not say how
much of the expense was unnecessary, but he thought the visits of Coun-
cillors to the city were more frequent than there was any real occasion
for. He believed the Executive Government was larger than it should
be. It was larger than that of Ontario, where they had a population
of 1,620,851, and yet had only four members of Government, who were
all departmental officers. Unless the blue books were in error these four
persons constituted the Government of that large Province. If the Govern-
ment of the Province of Ontario consisted merely of four members, surely
the number of our Government was capable of reduction. It was suggested
that it would create discontent if one section of the country were
represented in the Government and another not. He could not conceive
how that could be the case. If we had a small Government they could
communicate with the members of the counties by letter or by telegraph
when business specially demanded it, and in that way save these expensive
trips. Halifax had at present but two members of Government, as two
of these residing here for the time have represented counties in other
parts of the Province. In reference to the combination of the offices
of Provincial Secretary and Treasurer it was a very desirable thing
if we could economize thereby. But there was a question whether, in
reality, we were economizing. In New Brunswick, where this same plan
has been adopted, they had an Auditor of Accounts, to whom all accounts
had to be submitted before being paid. Accounts were compared by the
Auditor with existing legislation, and no amount could be paid unless it
was found to be comprised under such legislation. In this Province
amounts had been paid out of the treasury for want of proper supervision.
If we had an Auditor, he believed that for the future this would be
checked. The Provincial Secretary's office was, perhaps, overburdened
with work as it was. That officer, in carrying on the business of what
properly belonged to his department had quite enough to do, and was not
in a position to give that attention to financial matters that they re-
quired. In New Brunswick the auditor was not the head of a depart-
ment, but occupied the position of a head clerk. He received a salary
of $1,500. His (Dr. P.'s) objection to the present bill was that it did not

434 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

afford sufficient protection. The Public Accounts Committee had not time
to examine every account in detail. They were exceedingly numerous,
and no committee could give them the supervision and care that an
auditor could. He did not take exception to the abolition of the office
of Treasurer if only proper checks were provided."

At an earlier stage of this bill he had said :

"The facts which had been stated to-day made him (Hon. Dr. P.)
think it the more necessary that in connection with the amalgamation
of the offices of Provincial Secretary and Treasurer we should have a
public auditor, as they had in New Brunswick, whose duty it should be
to see to just such matters as these.'"

As in the case of the Statistical Office, what he here contended
for was realized long after the scene which then knew him knew
him no more. A bill establishing the office of Provincial Auditor
passed in 1909.

Session of 1879.

The Holmes-Thompson Government had now been formed, on
the defeat of the Liberal party, which had held power since the
autumn of 1867.

This ministry, in consequence of the alleged extravagance and
misgovernment of its predecessors, took the first step looking to
the abolition of the Legislative Council, by the following resolution,
moved by Hon. Samuel Creelman, a member of the Government:

" Whereas, By the provisions of the British North America Act,
1867, in reference to the legislative powers of the Parliament of Canada
and the Provincial Legislatures, the principal and most important legis-
lation was assigned to the Parliament of Canada, and the minor and less
important to the Provincial Legislatures;

And Whereas, Railway subsidies and other expenditures have nearly,
and will in a short time more than exhaust the balance of debt in
favor of Nova Scotia, and thus cause a decrease in the provincial
revenue, to the extent of interest formerly received on the balance,
amounting to $100,000.00 annually;

And Whereas, For some years past, the expenditure of the Province
has so largely exceeded its revenue that retrenchment is now indispen-
sably necessary;

Therefore, Resolved, That in order to reduce the legislative expenses
of the Province, in the opinion of this House, it has become necessary to
dispense with the Legislative Council as a branch of the Provincial
Legislature."

A similar resolution was moved in the House of Assembly.
On the resolution of Mr. Creelman :

" Hon. Dr. Parker regretted that he was called upon to follow gentle-
men taking the same view of this question that he did himself, but as
no one else seemed disposed to speak, he would claim the attention of
the House for a time. He felt, he might say, impressed by the gravity
and importance of the occasion. It was no light matter for him as a
legislator, or for any body of legislators, to widely sever the connection
that had existed for such a length of time between this and the other
branches of the Legislature. It was no light matter for us, as individuals,

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 435

to attempt to dislocate a system which had existed in this Province for
a century and a quarter or thereabouts. He felt, however, that it was
his duty to vote for the resolution before the House, and, before doing
so, to express his views in reference to it. He had been a member of
this House now for some eleven or twelve years, during which period he
had had the honour — he emphasized the word — of voting and acting with
the Opposition. It seemed rather hard now, after a change of govern-
ment had taken place, and at the very commencement of their career as
supporters of the Government, that he and his associates should be
called upon to advocate a measure the result of which would be to sweep
this body out of existence; but, hard though it might seem, they were
fully prepared to abide by the result of their action. He had long
experienced the feelings of a man in opposition, but, notwithstanding
that, and any desire that he might have to realize the feelings resulting
from another position, he felt it to be his duty to waive all personal
feelings, and to give his support to the resolution introduced by the
Honorable Commissioner of Mines and "Works. As a member of the
Opposition, he (Dr. P.) had always felt it incumbent upon him to consider
the various measures which, from time to time, came before the House,
separate and apart from all party bias; and he believed that neither he
nor the gentlemen with whom he was associated had ever thrown diffi-
culties in the path of the gentlemen who held the government of the
country. They had never given what was known as a factious opposi-
tion. Whenever they differed in principle from the Government they
had not hesitated to express their opinions, and to place these opinions
upon record. But when, on the other hand, measures came before the
House in the principle of which they could concur, they had not hesi-
tated to aid the Government in carrying them. When measures came
up here which seemed to require modification, it had been their aim to
act in the interests of the Province and of the people. As members of
the Opposition, they had felt their responsibility, but the responsibility
attaching to members or supporters of a Government was always much
greater than that which attached to the members of an Opposition. He
did not hesitate to say that if the majority of members which supported
the former Government in this House had done their duty we would not
now have had to meet a deficit of $315,000. He believed that when the
financial condition of the Province came to be more closely looked into
that deficit would be found to be nearer $400,000 than $300,000.

"He (Dr. P.) was not one of those who believed that this body was
a relic of the past, as the honorable member from Halifax, who preceded
him, had expressed it. Work of the greatest importance had been done
by the House in correcting and revising immature legislation. In tens,
twenties — even hundreds — of cases, this body had been enabled to amend
important bills, in a manner that prevented mischief from resulting to
the country and the people. But, notwithstanding all this, he was here
to perform a duty, and that was to co-operate with the leader of the
Government in this House in causing the existence of this body to
cease. This action was forced upon us by the action of the majority
who supported the late Government, as, if it had not been for them we
would not have been in the position in which we were. There had been
an impression abroad that this body was composed of independent men,
acting and voting independently of any outside influence. Those who
had sat here for any length of time were in a position to state that
such was not the case. They were in a position to know that gentlemen
sitting here, though further removed from them, were swayed by the
same influences as members of the other branch of the Legislature. We
had had the misfortune — and it was a grave one — of having in this
Province a Government sustained by a very narrow majority. They had
not only been so situated, but, on several occasions, they had actually
been in such a position that even a single member had had them in his
power. On several occasions two or three members, by using an influ-
ence of this description, had been able to compel the Government to

436 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

pass acts of the most injurious character to the Province, and this had
been the main instrument in placing us in the condition in which we
found ourselves to-day. Two or three members, coming from the west-
ern counties, had been able to force the Government either to resign or
pass measures which resulted in placing us where we were, financially,
to-day. Those two or three men had not only influenced the Government,
but they had influenced this body as well. So that we might say that
the country had been governed by two or three men, and sadly had it
prejudiced the interests of the country. There had been, it was true,
two or three instances in which this House had not been brought under
the influence of the other House or of the other Government. One
memorable instance of this was the Ballot Act. The Opposition here
was opposed to the principle of that bill. Two or three members on
the Government side of the House took the same view of it, and it was
rejected. A second bill was submitted, and we, feeling that it would not
be wise to oppose the wishes of the country, yielded, and permitted it to
pass. The very next year the leader of the Government in the other
House introduced a measure to abolish the act. We, in this House, felt
that it would be a disgrace to pass such a measure one year only to
repeal it the next, and the result was that the act was retained, and was
on the statute book to-day. Then, again, there was the County Courts
Bill. The Opposition were joined in reference to that bill by two gentle-
men who are absent to-day — the one through death and the other on
account of illness. These gentlemen aided in the attempt to prevent that
bill from becoming law. He felt it his duty to acknowledge that they
had received from political opponents a degree of aid that almost enabled
them to succeed in defeating that bill. Notwithstanding these instances,
however, this House had been controlled at one time by the Government
and at another by the other House, but oftener on account of the neces-
sities of the Government. It had frequently been the case, when Govern-
ment measures were submitted here, even where we agreed with them
in principle, that we have been prevented from modifying them in the
public interests. The first instance of this character to which he would
refer was the Public Charities Bill. He would call attention to his
remarks on that occasion, as found in the debates of the House. On the
bill being taken up for its second reading, he (Dr. P.) had said that 'he
did not take exception to the principle of the bill before the House.
His great objection to it was that, although there were several things in
the bill that could be amended with advantage, we were given to under-
stand that no amendment would be permitted, it being a Government
bill.'

" A few days subsequently another measure was introduced by a
member of Government, and, after being referred' to the select com-
mittee, was unanimously recommended by them to the House, with
several amendments. The statement was then again made by the mem-
ber introducing the bill that, it being a Government measure, he could
not accept any amendments; and he insisted that the amendments
recommended, even though they did not alter the principle of the bill
in the slightest degree, but were generally admitted to be an improve
ment, could not be accepted. He (Dr. P.) said then, as he said now,
that such acts weakened the position of the House, and were derogatory
to its dignity, and that if we were to be prohibited from exercising our
legitimate functions we had better put on our hats and allow the door
to close behind us. Such things as this had influenced him in taking
the position he did to-day.

" We would now refer to a very important measure to which no
amendment had been permitted, because it was a Government measure,
and of which we were feeling the evil effects to-day. He referred to
the Western Counties Railway Bill. A money clause was contained in
that bill, which provided that when $40,000 of the company's money
had been expended in the construction of the road they should be
entitled to draw $20,000 out of the public treasury. The bill neglected

POLITICS AXD THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 437

to state what was to be done with the latter amount. He (Dr. P.)
suggested that an amendment should be made for the purpose of con-
veying the idea that after the $20,000 had been drawn from the public
treasury it should be expended upon the road, and that the company
should only be entitled to draw another $20,000 after they had expended
a further $40,000 of their own money, and so on until the whole amount
of subsidy voted in aid of the road had been drawn. Ostensibly the bill
stated that the company were to pay two-thirds of the money to the
Province's one-third, but we saw at a glance that if the bill were per-
mitted to pass in the shape in which it was introduced, it would result
in the Province paying one-half instead of one-third. And what did we
find to-day? We found that the whole of the subsidy voted had been
drawn while the road was not more than half completed. To complete
it would probably require the expenditure of a million dollars more.
He (Dr. P.) had been struck the other day when it was said that the
people of the Town and County of Yarmouth had expended $300,000 on
this work. An impression had been abroad that the company had not
paid in anything like that amount, but, taking those figures as correct,
we had, as the result, over $700,000 taken from the public treasury and
expended on this work and only $300,000 of the company's money. He
was not opposed to the principle of the bill referred to. He desired as
much as anyone to see the people of Yarmouth brought into a closer
connection with the outside world. It was not the principle of the
measure he objected to — it was the fallacy conveyed by the manner in
which it was worded. Assuming for a moment that his ideas and those
of the gentlemen acting with him had been carried out, the same amount
of work would not have been accomplished, but we would have only
paid out $100,000, instead of $700,000, and have had the balance of
$600,000 to our credit at Ottawa, drawing interest at the rate of 5 per
cent, per annum, representing for the Province an income of $30,000.
This would enable us to understand the position in which we had been
placed by the failure on the part of the majority in this House to per-
form their duty.

" Next, another prominent case demanded our attention. He referred
to the Nictaux and Atlantic Railway. This transaction had a very inter-
esting history, and one that would be long remembered. Two American
gentlemen happened to own an iron mine at Nietaux. Seeing how easily
the late Government could be influenced, in consequence of their depend-
ence upon the support of two or three members, these gentlemen edu-
cated certain members how to act; and, by addressing public meetings,
succeeded in creating a public sentiment in favor of their scheme and
in bringing it to bear upon the members. Then, having primed the
members, they sent them, like legislative highwaymen, to command the
Government to stand and deliver, and they did stand and deliver. They
placed on the statute book an act analogous in many respects to that in
reference to the Western Counties Railway, and what was the result?
The Province was required to pay the sum of $440,000 as a subsidy
in aid of the construction of the Nictaux and Atlantic Railway. But
who would run such a roacl? Xo one. There was nothing whatever
in it. The proper course would have been to have subsidized a boat
to run along a portion of our western shores, to have built a con-
necting link between the Nictaux Mine and the Windsor and Annapolis
Railway, and have made the company a present of it. When he sug-
gested this idea, however, he was informed that not a penny of the
money would ever be called for. The bill was passed, the money was
being demanded, the work was in course of construction, and when
completed it would be entirely useless, yielding nothing to the revenue,
and doing little or nothing for the counties through which it passed,
or for the comnany having it in charge. What position would we have
been in, then." to-day had this branch of the Legislature put its
foot down and refused to permit such expenditures as those to
which he had referred? The Opposition at the time requested the

438 DANIEL McKEILL PAKKER, M.D.

(Government of the day to stop, while they were in a position to do
so. The advice he would give now to the present Government was to
buy out that company, or to make a compromise with them, by entering
into some arrangement by which the further prosecution of the work
might be stopped. Were he in the Government this was the course that
he should adopt. He might accumulate such instances of the dereliction
of duty on the part of the Government majority in this House, but all
that was necessary to do further in this direction was to point to the
financial statement laid on the table of the House a few days ago.

We were all aware of the fact that it was considered desirable that the
number of members of this House should be decreased. The late Govern-
ment said that they concurred in the propriety of the step, and would
aid in carrying it into effect; but time passed and, no action being taken,
a resolution was moved by the honorable leader of the Opposition at the
time to reduce the number of members to seventeen. No explanation was
given of the reason which influenced the Government in delaying to take
any action in this matter at that time, but an explanation was given the
other day, when there appeared in the anteroom of this chamber four
gentlemen formerly members of the other House, who held illegal com-
missions, appointing them members of this body. This was the explana-
tion of the delay. This body was to be used for the purpose of rewarding
gentlemen who had supported the former Government through all its
trials and difficulties.

At the close of the last session we had here fifteen members, of
whom five supported the Opposition of that day. One of the latter was
ninety-four or ninety-five years of age, and could hardly be expected to
be present another session. The honorable member for Pictou, another
supporter of the Opposition, was so seriously ill that there was little
hope of seeing him here again. We stood, then, in this position: Ten
supporters of the Government to three Opposition. Immediately after
this, however, Honorable D. C. Fraser, one of the supporters of the
Government, resigned the seat to which Hon. Mr. Francheville was now
appointed. Mr. Fraser became a candidate at the last election and was
defeated. He lost a seat and Hon. Mr. Francheville gained one.

There was an old saying that the last straw breaks the camel's back.
When it became known that the late Government had appointed four addi-
itonal members to this House the Gazette that contained their appoint-
ment was that last straw. This appointment was made by a Government
that had retrenchment in their mouths and economy on their tongues. As
soon as that Gazette was issued he (Dr. P.) said that that act of the
Government would be the means of causing the existence of this body
to cease. The people could not reach this body in the same way that
they could reach the members of the Government and of the other branch
of the Legislature. But we were all members of the outside public. He
was here as one of the people, and spoke ,as one of the people, and in
the interests of the people. If this body had not exhibited the independ-
ence which it should have shown, and was merely to reflect the senti-
ments of the House of Assembly, he thought we had better be away from
here, and that seemed to be the position which the House had occupied
in the past. This being the case, he thought it would be far better to
have but one chamber, and that one the representative chamber sitting in
the other end of the building. We had been accused of not being in
earnest in this matter. He would refer to a brief address made by him
in the House last year, in which he referred to this subject, and spoke as
follows:

" ' Hon. Dr. Parker enquired whether it was intended to permit this
body and the House of Assembly to continue at their present fixed figures
of eighteen and thirty-eight respectively. There were many business
firms that with a small staff managed a revenue amounting to more than
that of the Province at present. He thought the Government should turn
their attention to the matter and make some suggestions in reference to
it. The subject of doing away with this body would probably be one of

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 439

those that would come before the people at the approaching election. No
one valued this body better than he did, but after some of the exhibitions
which we had recently witnessed here he questioned the wisdom of con-
tinuing it if it was to become merely a reflection of the Lower House.
There had been one bill here the other day which some of the best minds
in the council wished to simplify by the addition of a single word. The
amendment had been unanimously agreed to by the committee to whom
the bill was referred, but when the amendment came before the House
some of the very gentlemen who sat on the committee and there agreed
to it joined in voting it down for no other reason than that it was feared
the amendment would not be agreed to by the House of Assembly. As
soon as such a position as this was taken it would be better for us to put
on our hats and go home. The same thing was true of the legislation of
previous years. We were not permitted to carry out our views in regard
to the amendment of the railway bills for a similar reason. It was time
we were able to conduct our business in an independent spirit.'

" In reply to that, Hon. D. C. Fraser said:

" ' Hon. D. C. Fraser was glad the honorable member had brought up
this question, though he wished that he had been a little more definite.
The honorable gentleman professed to be quite willing to do away with
this House. He (Hon. Mr. F.) could tell the honorable member this, that
if he or any of his friends would move a resolution to that effect, it would
receive from the friends of the Government a degree of support that
would surprise him.'

" He might say now that such a resolution had been introduced, and
we expected to be surprised in the manner in which Mr. Fraser had
hinted, and to receive from the gentlemen who formed the majority at
that time a cordial support to the present resolution. That was the
position which he took last year, and that was his position this year.

" Some reference had been made to legislative expenses. The cost of
this body was not a very large amount for a prosperous Province, but yet,
in the condition of our finances, it was a large sum. With public services,
such as roads and bridges and education, demanding money, and with the
treasury not in a position to grant the sums required, the twelve thousand
dollars per annum expended upon this body became an important item.
He himself believed that the true panacea for all our evils would be
union of the Maritime Provinces. Last year he "h"ad the honor of being a
member of a delegation to New Brunswick with this end in view. The
members of that delegation were informed that the financial position of
this Province was such that their proposition could not be entertained,
though under other circumstances the Government of the other Province
would have been glad to have done so. Our financial condition was not
then known as it is now. The finances of the Province of New Brunswick
were not in a satisfactory condition, but they were in a much better con-
dition than ours, as they had resources that we had not. He did not
think it at all probable that that Province would unite with us in carry-
ing out the measure of maritime union. He (Dr. P.) was of opinion
that our legislative expenses^ amounting to from thirty-eight to forty-four
thousand! dollars, were larger than they should be. It was a duty incum-
bent upon the present Government to decrease that expenditure. He
trusted that when the estimates came before the House one of the
first reductions observable would be a decrease in the amounts paid to the
members of both Houses. If it were not so, he would be very much
disappointed. This was not the time to speak of a reduction of the House
of Assembly, but he believed it to be in the interest of the Province not
only that this House should be abolished, but that the body sitting else-
where should be reduced in numbers. He had no hesitation in expressing
the opinion that the public service of the country could be carried on quite
as effectively with one member from the smaller counties and two from
the larger, as they were at present. He made this suggestion publicly, for
the public and the country, in the hearing of some members of that
House, and with the view of influencing gentlemen sitting there, if they

440 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

could be influenced by anything he might say. He had a good deal of
other matter upon his notes, but the opening addresses of the honorable
members who had preceded him had anticipated many things that he
might have said.

" In conclusion, he believed it to be his duty as a member of this
House, having the interests of the Province at heart, to give his vote in
support of the resolution which had been placed upon the table of the
House. He had formed pleasant associations here, and had always been
on terms of the pleasantest character with every member of the House.
The days spent here would not soon be forgotten by him; but, still, he felt
it to be his duty to do as he had said and vote for the resolution moved by
the Honorable Commissioner of Works and Mines."

On the following day:

" Hon. Dr. Parker desired to correct a misapprehension that might
exist on the minds of some honorable members in reference to some
remarks which he (Dr. P.) made yesterday. In referring to the sub-
serviency shown by this House to the late Government he wished to
say that whatever Government assumed1 authority, if they were placed in
such a position that two or three members could displace them, if such
a body as this were in existence, they would be likely to utilize it, as
had been done in the past, and undermine the independence wbich
should always characterize such a body as this. While the present
Government remained as it was at present, it held his entire confidence
and support, but Governments might change, until in a few years hardly
one of the original members of the present Government remained;
hence the words used by him were not to be understood as applicable
solely to the last Government. In reply to what had been said by Mr.
McCurdy, in reference to his (Dr. P.'s) remarks with reference to illegal
commissions, he (Mr. McC.) had said that the commissions held by the
honorable gentlemen appointed in the year 1867 were illegal also. He
(Dr. P.) begged to say that the commissions were not at all the same;
that the commissions issued in 1867 were signed by Her Majesty the
Queen. It was a grave question as to whether the commissions held by
certain gentlemen recently appointed were in accordance with law, and
it would be the duty of the House to deal with the matter during the
present session. The honorable member from Londonderry had referred
to the Senate of Canada, and asked why we did not attempt to abolish
that body, and said that we might as well abolish the one body as the
ether. The subject was outside of the present resolution altogether; we
were not dealing with the Senate of the Dominion. The honorable
member had further accused honorable gentlemen who advocated this
resolution of doing something that was ' suicidal, disloyal, and un-British.'
He (Dr. P.) would place before the honorable gentleman a statement
made last year by the then leader of the Government in this House —
Mr. D. C. Fraser. He had referred to it once before, but it was
necessary to repeat it. Mr. Fraser, in reply to remarks of his (Hon.
Dr. P. 's) in reference to the abolition of this bodv. hfid spoken as follows:
'"He (Mr. F.) was glad the honorable member had brought up this
question, though he wished that he had been a little more definite. The
honorable gentleman professed to be quite willing to do away with this
House. He (Mr. F.) could tell the honorable member this, that if he or
any of his friends would move a resolution to that effect it would receive
from the friends of the Government a degree of support that would sur-
prise him.'

" Such a resolution as that suggested bv the honorable gentleman's
leader last year was now before the House, and yet the honorable gentle-
man characterized it as being ' suicidal, disloyal, and un-British.' If
the advocates of the resolution before the House were chargeable with
these offences, the charges were just as applicable to the leader of the
honorable gentleman of last year. He (Dr. P.) took it for granted that,

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 441

if such a resolution had been brought before the House last year, Hon.
Mr. Fraser would have given it his support; and, in doing so. the honor-
able member from Londonderry would have been at his back. The
honorable member had said that the present Government wished to get
rid of the council, so that they might borrow money that would enable
them to keep in power for twenty years to come. He did not suppose the
honorable member spoke from experience. The late Government had
kept themselves in power by borrowing money. They had been com-
pelled to borrow money in consequence of the manner in which they had
squandered the public funds. The honorable member suggested a reduc-
tion of 25 per cent, in the salaries of members. He (Dr. P.) was per-
fectly in accord with that clause of the amendment. He would concur,
also, in the reduction of the pay of members of the House of Assembly.
In reply to the remarks which had been made with reference to the
Province of Ontario he might say that that Province was in a position to
carry on the work of legislation with a smaller number of legislators in
proportion to population than this Province. This was largely so on
account of the existence in that Province of municipal corporations,
which relieved the Legislature of a great amount of work. He hoped
that before long he would see the same idea adopted here. The honor-
able member from Londonderry had said that we were face to face with
direct taxation. He (Dr. P.) was aware of that, but who had brought
us into this position. It was the party upheld for the last four years
by the honorable member from Londonderry himself. He (Dr. P.)
wished to place this on the proper shoulders. If we were face to face
with direct taxation it was not the fault of the Government of the day, or
of their friends, but of their predecessors. The honorable member from
Kings (Hon. Mr. Dickie) had said that the advocates of the resolution
before the House proposed to abolish this body only because of the
financial difficulties of the country. That was one reason, it was true, but
it was not the only reason. It was a fact that for the last twelve years
this House had not been a check upon the other branch of the Legisla-
ture. To prove all this it was only necessary to refer to the financial
acts placed upon the statute book during that time. The honorable
member from Hants had said that if we left the Council as it was it
would not be subservient to the other branch of the Legislature. The
honorable gentleman had reference to the future, but he (Dr. P.) had
spoken of the past. His charge was that ' in the past this House had
been subservient to the other body.' The honorable gentleman had told
of a patient who was bled because the young doctor who attended him
considered that he should do something. The allusion was an unfor-
tunate one for the honorable member, because his own friends had blQd
the public treasury until they had brought about a deficit, which existed
at the present time, and they were not young practitioners who had been
guilty of this malpractice. One of their very first acts had been to take
$6,710.94 out of the public treasury. This was their first act of deple-
tion. Seven hundred thousand dollars had gone to the Western Counties
Railway, without any visible result, and $440,000 had been squandered
upon the Nictaux and Atlantic Railway. In looking over the public
accounts he observed that in August last the sum of $16,000 had been
paid out for a bridge in the County of Digby. We all kne^- the relation
that the month of August bore to the month of September. In the
month of August the amount referred to was drawn for on the treasury;
in the month of September the election took place. He would say nothing
more, but allow honorable members to place these two facts together
and draw their own conclusions. Another item of $2,n00 had been appro-
priated to pay expenses of a lawsuit commenced by Mr. WoodVorth
against certain private individuals, members of the last House of
Assembly. If the late Government had continued in power we would
probably never have heard of these things. While the honorable member
from Hants had nothing, it was true, to do with the acts referred to, he
had given his support to those who had. Even if this body were not abol-

442 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

ished, he (Dr. P.) trusted that in the future there would not be the same
necessity for a check upon the other branch of the Legislature as there
had been in the past. The honorable gentleman (Hon. Mr. Cochran)
had told us that Confederation or something else had brought us to the
verge of bankruptcy. He (Dr. P.) would say that it was not Confedera-
tion that was responsible for our present position, but the illegal with-
drawal from the public treasury of the sums to which he had referred,
and acts of a similar character.

" Mr. Cochran — Does the honorable gentleman consider it illegal to
withdraw money from the public treasury without an act authorizing the
withdrawal ?

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he did, excepting under very extraordinary
circumstances. The cases to which he (Dr. P.) had referred were alto-
gether unjustifiable. The honorable member (Mr. C.) had expressed
some alarm lest the Province of Ontario should obtain an undue ascend-
ancy over us in the future. To lessen the honorable gentleman's appre-
hensions he (Dr. P.) might point to the new tariff just introduced.
That did not look as if the wishes of Ontario alone were to be considered.
On the contrary, manufactures in which we were interested were satis-
factorily protected. Besides this, who had we representing us in the
ministry of the Dominion just now? He would point to Hon. Mr. Tilley,
Minister of Finance, a gentleman from New Brunswick. In an almost
equally important position — that of Minister of Public Works — we had
Hon. Dr. Tupper, a Nova Scotian. The important position of Minister of
Justice was filled by Hon. James McDonald, the member for Pictou.
Another office, that of the Marine and Fisheries, was occupied by Hon.
Mr. Pope, of Prince Edward Island. So that, at the present time, the
Maritime Provinces had four of the ablest men of the Dominion holding
some of the most important cabinet offices. The honorable gentleman had
asked why the office of law clerk had not been abolished. This office had
been known for years as a sinecure. Why did not the Government
supported by the honorable gentleman abolish it? The Government had
abolished it, or had framed a bill, which would come up in a few days
for approval, by which it is proposed that the Hon. Attorney-General and
the Junior Clerk of the other House shall perform the duties pertaining
to that office. The honorable member had asked why the Speaker's
salary and the sessional pay was not attended to, and he mentioned the
sum of $1,400 as the salary received by that officer as sessional pay and
allowances. During the last four years the late Government had had
abundant opportunities of reducing these expenditures. There had been
frequent opportunities for reducing the members' pay; the necessity
existed, but there had not been the disposition to do it. He was not
prepared to say what the intentions of the present Government were, but
the point he wished to make was: These reductions should have been
made several years ago. It was a significant fact that when it was pro-
posed to reduce the membership of this House, all but one of those
supporting the Government of the day voted against it. The only one
who had voted with the Opposition in favor of the reduction was the late
Mr. McKenna, of Shelburne. The honorable member from Pictou, who
was here to-day, feeble in health, had made some remarks in relation to
the subject under discussion. He (Dr. P.) was always glad to see his
friends acting independently. It was a pleasant thing to see that honor-
able gentleman rising here and speaking in accordance with his convic-
tions, even though the opinions of the honorable gentleman were different
from his own. If the same independence had been shown heretofore by
the members of this House we would have been in a different position
from what we were. He (Dr. P.) agreed with that honorable gentleman
in relation to the subject of legislative union. He believed that the time
was coming when such an union would be effected. If he were not mis-
taken, the opposing sentiment was fast dying out, and a legislative union
of the Provinces would, before long, take place. If so, it would relieve us
from much expense, and he trusted that the honorable gentleman would
live to see it accomplished."

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 443

At a later day my father, as chairman of the committee
appointed to draft a reply to the resolution of the House of
Assembly respecting abolition, read a minority report in favor of
it and a majority report against it. The Council stood thirteen
to six against abolition, these figures representing the respective
strength of the Parties in the Upper House.

Session of 1882.

On the Railway Consolidation Bill :

" Hon. Dr. Parker, in rising to speak upon the important question
before the House, said that he felt physically unequal to the task, yet as
his friends desired him to speak this afternoon, and he felt it to be his
duty not to give a silent vote, he had concluded to say a few words.
The subject before the House was a very important one. It had its
origin in the bill of 1880, which contemplated the consolidation of the
railways from Halifax to Yarmouth. That measure was repealed by the
more comprehensive one before the House to-day. The bill of 1880,
which accomplished nothing, had given place to a larger measure, which
embraced nearly all the roads to which subsidies had been given by the
Province. The resolution of the 10th of April of last year, moved and
carried in the House of Assembly without a dissenting voice, author-
ized the Government to take such action as would result in the dis-
posal of their interests in the subsidized roads. That resolution itself
gave us the explanation of the procedure of the Government in the
matter. They were under no obligation to publish the resolution in the
press of the country. The House of Assembly had not dictated what
course they should pursue. They took the course that was best, in their
own judgment, and he (Dr. P.) thought they had adopted the mode best
calculated to accomplish the end in view. The resolution, after reciting
the interests of the Province in the several roads to be affected, pro-
ceeded as follows:

" ' Be it therefore resolved, that the Government be authorized and
empowered to enter into negotiations with any person or persons, or
corporation, for the purpose of effecting a sale of the interests possessed
by this Province in the said railways, or any of them, and to contract for
such sale upon the best terms that can be obtained therefor.'

" He just gave this part of the resolution, which was satisfactory at
all events to him. He thought that the Government had faithfully
adhered to it, and the result we had before us to-day. The hon. mem-
ber from Londonderry (Hon. Mr. Morrison), in asking for information
a few days ago, had said that this was the most important question
which we had had before us since Confederation. He (Dr. P.) con-
curred with him in that sentiment, but while doing so he did not concur
with him in the other sentiment or term by which he characterized the
scheme of Confederation as a "terrible scourge." He (Dr. P.) did not
believe that it ever had been or ever would be a ' terrible scourge.'
There were some persons whose mental equilibrium seemed to be so dis-
turbed by certain facts as to render them unable to discriminate between
a blessing and an evil. All we had to do with the hon. gentleman, for
instance, was to mention the scheme of Confederation, and he was at
once placed in this condition. He (Dr. P.) was afraid, from the tenor
of the hon. gentleman's remarks in connection with this bill, that he was
unable to discriminate between good and evil. (He used the word in a
political, not in a moral, sense.) He inferred from what the hon. mem-
ber had said, that he was about to vote against one of the best measures
ever submitted to this House for its consideration. (Applause.) He
(Dr P.) regretted this, for the hon. member had arrived at a time of
life when he ought to know better. (Laughter.) There was not one

444 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

section of the country that was not going to be advantageously influenced
by this measure. It would be felt in the outlying districts, as well as
in the centres of trade and population. The agriculture, the fisheries,
the mines and mineral's, the whole trade and commerce of the country
would be revived and benefited and time would demonstrate that a
great work had been accomplished by the consolidation of the railways,
which were now separate and distinct. (Applause.) The past history
of our railways was a very important matter. He was glad the Hon.
Commissioner of Works and Mines alluded to it in the way he had done
to-day. He (Dr. P.) had intended to refer to the subject himself, but
as it had been fully dealt with both by the Hon. Commissioner of Mines
and the hon. member from Londonderry, he (Dr. P.) would pass it by,
merely alluding to -a few points which they had omitted to touch. One
of those points was the visit of Mr. Powlett Thomson to this country.
At Quebec that gentleman summoned around him the ablest men of this
country — British North America. He (Dr. P.) well remembered the
departure of Howe, Johnston, Young and Uniacke to attend that conven-
tion. Such subjects were discussed as the modification of our provincial
constitution, the closer relations of the Provinces, the Halifax and Que-
bec railway, etc. He believed that en that occasion the foundation was
laid for the Confederation of the Provinces, which was such a bugbear
to the hon. member from Londonderry, and also for the Intercolonial,
then known as the Quebec and Halifax railway. He remembered also
the meeting at Portland. How important that meeting was few of us
could tell. Our ablest men were there — Wilmot and Tilley, from New
Brunswick, and the men he had mentioned from Nova Scotia as having
been present at Quebec. On that occasion our representatives from the
Lower Provinces so distinguished themselves tor their eloquence and
their practical business ability as to almost throw into the shade the
representatives from the Northern and Eastern States and other places.
The foundation of the railway from Bangor to St. John was laid on that
occasion. Shortly after this there appeared in this Province some rail-
way magnates, who came with a view to the establishment of the road
now known as the Intercolonial. We thought ourselves already in
possession of the road when, suddenly we found ourselves jilted, and
Portland stepped in between us and the object of our wishes, and for
years we were deprived of it. The gentlemen to whom he had referred
came to us in the interests of the Grand Trunk Railway, and we were
treated in the way he had described. About this time, 1851, a pamphlet
was written on the subject of the Halifax and Quebec Railroad, which
he (Dr. P.) considered an able and somewhat remarkable production, and
which he would like every member of the House to procure a copy of and
read. It was written by Mr. Wm. Pryor, and many of the predictions
which he made in it had been literally fulfilled. Mr. Pryor claimed that
flour could be brought from Quebec to Halifax by the proposed road for
2s. 6d., or 60 cents per barrel. This has been more than realized.
To-day, or in the summer season at least, a barrel of flour could be
brought from Toronto to Halifax for 60 cents. A short time since he
(Dr. P.) happened to be standing in one of the stations on the Windsor
and Annapolis Railway, when a sm; U parcel about the size of his two
fists was delivered to a man, who enquired how much was to pay. The
reply was, ' sixty cents.' He could not help making the remark at the
time that he could import a barrel of flour from Toronto to Halifax for
the sum charged for the conveyance of this small parcel 120 miles.
The pamphlet to which he had referred also contained statements in
regard to the transportation of coal. It was said that coal would be
sent from Pictou to Halifax for a dollar a ton. During one week in
January 375 cars of coal arrived at Richmond from Pictou, and in one
week during the present month 253 cars. The prediction in regard to coal
had been fulfilled, both in regard to quantity and price. Reference was
also made to the moving by rail of agricultural products. At that time,
he presumed, the shipment of beef to England was not thought of. It
was further said in the pamphlet that vessels would come to Halifax for

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 445

timber and deals conveyed here by rail for shipment. He (Dr. P.) was
informed that last summer there was an average of five vessels per week
loading timber at Richmond. He referred to these things to show what
might be done when railways were consolidated under one management.
Mr. Pryor took the ground, looking into the future, that the railways
must be under one management, that we must have a consolidated system
of railways in order to produce these results. He went on to make a
still more significant statement. Those were the day? when men were
dreaming of railway communication between the Atlantic and the
Pacific. In relation to this subject, Mr. Pryor said:

" It must never be lost sight of in the consideration of this great
enterprise that the great and paramount object in its construction is to
shorten the distance between England and her extensive and valuable
North American possessions — between Europe and America; and ulti-
mately to bring Europe, America and Asia into the closest possible
connection.'

" That was a prediction which to-day was being literally fulfilled.
In the Provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba recently he (Dr. P.)
travelledXSOO miles over roads which, at no distant day, would be placed
in direct connection with both the Atlantic and the Pacific. He would
not be doing himself justice if he did not refer to another subject of the
past. He alluded to that which agitated the country about 1854, when
Mr. Howe initiated the policy that railroads should be built out of the
treasury of Nova Scotia. He (Dr. P.) was younger then than now, and
had not thought so much about the subject. He was influenced by cir-
cumstances and political surroundings which led him into opposition to
the measure advocated by Mr. Howe, but he had now lived long enough
to know that Mr. Howe was right and he was wrong. He could recollect
the excitement that was caused in the Province at that time. As a con-
sequence of Howe's resolution the senior Mr. Stairs left this House and
never returned to it. Mr. Huntingdon, than whom few abler men ever
sat in the Lower House, separated himself from his life-long friend, Mr.
Howe, on that occasion and co-operated with Mr. Johnston, while Wilkins
and Smith, of Hants, seceded from the ranks of the Conservatives, and,
joining Howe, enabled him to carry his measure. Finally the roads to
Windsor and Truro were built. iMr. Howe's idea was to build lines east
and west through the rugged and difficult country between Halifax,
Windsor and Truro, and leave the remainder to private enterprise. That
policy he (Dr. P.) contended was a wise one, and he -now believed that
if it had not been adopted we would not have had railroads in the
Province for ten or twelve years later at least. He was glad to have an
opportunity of publicly recanting the opinion which he then entertained.
The policy then adopted by Mr. Howe was that of the Dominion Govern-
ment to-day. Had the Dominion Government not adopted this policy,
no private company would have attempted to build a line of railway
along the canons of the Fraser River, but now we had the assurance that
in a few years the Pacific Railway would be completed and great benefits
would result to all the Provinces of the Dominion. He (Dr. P.) was no
advocate of Government railways. He did not believe in Governments
as a rule embarking in such speculations as constructing and running
railroads. He was opposed to any such measure for Nova Scotia to-day.
If we had such a revenue as the Dominion of Canada he would not per-
haps object to it so strongly, but situated as we were with a depleted
treasury, he would not entertain it. Government railways, like many
other things, had had their day. They had left their mark, and we were
reaping the benefit of them. The utterances and acts of public men to
which he had alluded were the causes of what we saw to-day. Had it
not been for them we would not have had in Nova Scotia 450 miles of
railway, but it was our duty to do what they had left undone and put the
capstone upon their wrork.

" It was but right that he should here make a remark in regard to
the condition of affairs when the present Government came into power
in 1878, in relation to our railroads. They found everything, he might

446 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

say, in a chaotic and unsatisfactory state, but they had now solved diffi-
culties which then appeared insuperable. Inasmuch as we were to con-
sider the consolidation of all the roads referred to in the bill before the
House, he should speak to them in detail. It was his intention to do so
very briefly. The Nictaux and Atlantic Railway was for the present
shunted out on a siding but it was not intended that it should remain so.
In regard to the Western Counties road, we had heard of the condition
it was in when the present Government oame into power. The company
were to have had the Windsor Branch if they completed their line, as he
understood it. He had nothing to say about the withdrawal of the
Windsor Branch from the Western Counties Company and its transfer
to another company: That was now in litigation, and he presumed that
we would know by^and-by who was right and who wrong. When the
present Government came in, work was not going on on the road. Not a
mile was in running order, and he thought he was right in saying that
some of the work done was defective. Of this he had spoken in strong
terms two or three years since, some cf which he would to-day take back,
in consequence of what he had personally observed on a recent visit to
Yarmouth. The present Government guaranteed the bonds of the com-
pany to the extent of £55,000 sterling, following the example of the last
Government in the case of the Windsor and Annapolis Railway. The
only difference being that the loan to the Western Counties Railway was
effected at 5 per cent., while in the case of the previous loan 6 per cent,
was paid. It was not impossible that when the guarantee was
effected the Government had the formation of a syndicate in view.
As a piece of business policy there was wisdom in making the loan to the
Western Counties Company, and he was pleased that the Government had
done it. It was possible that that loan had been the means of accom-
plishing the business before the House to-day. At all events, the
present Government could not be charged with any political intentions in
connection with the matter. The members from the counties of Yar-
mouth and Digby were not supporters of the present Government, but had
opposed them on party divisions. There could be no political suggestion
or motive therefore. The explanation probably was that the Government
thought that the $700,000 of subsidy might be required by the loan of
£55,000 sterling. We were all aware some time since that a measure of
this character was likely to be before the Legislature. In the month of
December he (Dr. P.) went over the Western Counties Railway, and he
must confess that he was agreeably disappointed. It was a good road,
the bed and metal were good, there was good accommodation for
passengers, and in some respects it seemed to be doing a good business.
He understood that it had paid working expenses and that there was a
profit of $8,000 or $9,000 over working expenses. But as he inspected the
road he had his eyes open and be saw that it was taking the business of
the Western Counties away from Halifax and handing it over to St.
John. We had paid the piper to the tune of $700,000, not including the
£55,000 guarantee, and New Brunswick was reaping the benefit of it.
He would like this to be borne in mind. Leave things as they were, and
the people of St. John would be as much benefited by the road as if they
held it in fee simple, while we would have the trade drawn away from
us. He wished the people of St. John well but he did not wish them to
draw away trade from Halifax that could be retained by building a con-
necting link of twenty miles. In reference to the Halifax and Cape
Breton road, he would say that he had travelled on that road several
times. He was convinced that it was a first-class road or such as we
would call a first-class road in this country. It was well kept and in a
satisfactory condition. The station houses along the line would be a
credit to any Province and the road was more than paying its way, and
had done so ever since it commenced operations. But suppose it ceased
there — at the Strait of Canso — what would be the- result? It would be a
local road, and that only. It was now doing a fair business and was
benefiting Antigonish and portions of Pictou County, but it was doing
little for Cape Breton or Guysboro. Connect it with Louisburg, and see

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 447

then what it would accomplish for the Island which, according to the hon.
member from Mabou, had never yet had justice done it. (Laughter.)

" As regards Louisburg extension there was no risk in passing the
measure before the House, for we were putting no money in it. When the
mineral lands of this subsidy were made productive, who would reap the
benefit of it? The Province. Every mining area opened would bring
money into the treasury. Exception was taken to the fact that the Crown
lands and minerals given to the company were not embraced in the
mortgage. In the nature of things this could not be done, as both the
minerals and lands would probably be shortly sold. The Pictou and
Dartmouth branches were not to cost the Province one penny. We had
heard from the hon. member from North Colchester much about the
Pictou branch, and the injustice to the people of that county. The
Pictou people had cut their eye teeth and knew what they wanted better
than the .hon. member who espoused their cause, and were determined
to have it. The steam ferry at present maintained at Pictou cost
$12,000 a year. When the branch line was built there would be no
necessity for it, and a cheaper ferry could do all the work. The people
of Pictou would get off much more easily than those of Dartmouth. They
had in their haste thrown ftp their hats and agreed to tax themselves
to the extent of $4,000 a year, for twenty years, if the road was carried
into Dartmouth. They had done it, and he supposed they would have to
adhere to it. The Newport, Pugwash and other new lines were not
compulsory. They might be built or not.

" The Windsor and Annapolis Railway received subsidies at the rate
of $12,000 per mile, amounting to $1,020,000. It was in good order, but
without assistance from the Government would not have been. The
Government guarantee had enabled the company to remove their wooden
bridges and replace them with iron. The important roads, however, in this
scheme were the Windsor and Pictou branches. Their value was beyond
doubt. The Pictou line was worth $80,000 per annum to any company,
and if running powers to Halifax were given, $10,000 additional might
be relied on. We might place it in round numbers at from $90,000 to
$100,000. The Windsor branch was said to afford a revenue of from
$40,000 to $50,000. These two roads, which were taken by the Dominion
Government as part of our debt, had been returned to us again in order
that we might use them in the extension of our railway system. Hon.
gentlemen should remember the paternal kindness which the Dominion
Government had shown towards us in reference to these two lines. The
smallest estimate we could place upon their value was $2,000,000 or
$2,500,000. Without these two lines we would not have had any extension
east or west. The conclusion we must arrive at was this: That the gen-
erosity of the Dominion Government on the one hand, and the statesman-
ship) of the local Government on the other, had placed us in the position
to have a consolidated system of roads from east to west.

" He would like now to say something about the financial aspects of
the scheme. Not being a financial man he was no,t .in as good a position
to deal with this matter as seme others, but he had given some attention
to it, and had come to the conclusion that instead of being an injury
it was going to be a great good to the country. The first question to be
considered was, what were our responsibilities? In the first place, we
were to guarantee the annual payment of interest to the amount of
$225,000 (the whole capital of the company being ten millions). This
guarantee was to be in perpetuity. The word 'perpetuity ' appeared to
give a sort of electric shock to some persons, but when we saw what we
had in perpetuity to meet the payment with, our fears must abate. In
clause 17 of the agreement provision is made for getting the bonds out
of the way. In some cases bonds might be bought up as they were
offered for sale. He would not occupy time in reading the clause. The
25th clause provided for the extinction of the liability. With that
clause every memiber of the House was familiar, or ought to be. He
(Dr. P.) had never seen more attention given to any measure by hon.
members than to that now before the House, and if they did not under-

448 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

stand it the fault must be their own. Provision was made for capitaliza-
tion to meet this amount of interest ($225,000). This capitalized sum,
amounting to about $1,000,000, the interest of which compounded was
to extinguish the debt in time, was to be placed in the Dominion Trea-
sury. There would be placed in the Provincial Treasury a sum of at
least $6,500,000. From this would be deducted, in the first place, the
amount to be paid the Province for its interest in the roads, $1,350,000,
leaving a balance of $5,150,000. From this would be taken in the next
place the sinking fund, leaving a balance of $4,150,000 for the purchase,
construction and equipment of the road referred to in the agreement.
This amount was not to be paid out at the will of the company as calls
were made upon it, but proportionately as the work proceeded. We
might assume that it would be fairly proportioned. The interest on the
capitalized amount would be $56,120, which was intended (1st), to ex-
tinguish the debt assumed by the Province in 41 years. (2nd) If that
could not be accomplished, in consequence of the failure of the company
to fulfil its engagements, the amount was to be appropriated towards the
payment of the interest on the $4,500,000; or, in the third place, it
might be used for the purchase of the guaranteed bonds in the open
market. He would not be sorry to see the money largely appropriated
in this way, if, at any time, the bonds could be purchased below par.
Let us now strike a balance to see where we would stand in the event
of the total failure of the scheme. The Province would be liable for
yearly interest amounting to $225,000. To meet that we would have from
interest on the sinking fund $56,120, and interest on bonus $67,550.
These added together, and 'subtracted from the $225,000, left a balance of
$101,330. He (Dr. P.) had calculated interest on the whole bonus, but
$385,000 or thereabouts of that money must be appropriated almost
immediately in payment of our subsidy to the Nictaux and Atlantic
road. As the Government would get for the guaranteed bonds of the
Windsor and Annapolis Railway $15,000 annually as interest, it
appeared to him to be legitimate to consider only $15,000 of
the $30,000 interest already guaranteed on the bonds of the
Western Counties and Windsor and Annapolis Railroads as bad or as
risky, for whoever has the branch from Windsor to the Junction would
be in a position beyond all doubt to pay the interest. The Windsor and
Annapolis Railway Company had paid in full this year for indemnity
$14,558, while the Western Counties Company had not paid anything. It
might be asked why, if the Western Counties Company was in receipt of
money above working expenses, it did not pay its interest. The answer
was that their present wants were many and their future wants would
be large, and it could not be expected that they would be in a position
to pay interest. Parts of the road needed ballasting; rolling stock and
permanent bridges were required, and allowance had to be made for
depreciation. In case of a complete failure and a return to our present
position, then we would have to meet interest to the extent of $101,330,
plus $15,000 for the Western Counties road for twenty years.

" The subsidy rated to the Nictaux and Atlantic Railway by the Pro-
vince amounted to $440,000. Of this they had had about $95,000, and
$20,000 was due to laborers and others and the balance was still due.
We would not be able, therefore, to put into the Dominion treasury
more than $1,000,000 of bonus. He (Dr. P.) had had some doubts as to
the course he should pursue until the Dominion Government agreed
to receive that amount at five per cent. There was great difficulty
in investing large amounts on favorable terms. The United States
Government were calling in their five per cent, bonds and getting
money at three and a half or four per cent. We were therefore fortu-
nate in getting our money placed to such advantage. In the year 1874
the Dominion Parliament passed an Act authorizing the advance of a
sum of money for the purpose of constructing a graving dock at
Esquimalt, in the Province of British Columbia, and in that Act the
following clause was inserted:

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 449

" ' The Governor-in-Council may in his discretion advance from time
to time to any Province in Canada such sums as may be required for
local improvements in the Province, and not exceeding in the whole the
amount by which the debt of the Province for which Canada is respon-
sible then falls short of the debt with which the Province was allowed
to enter the Union — such advances to be deemed additions to the debt
of the Province, with permission to the Province to repay them to
Canada, on such notice, in such sums and on such other conditions as
the Dominion Government and that of the Province may agree upon;
any amount so repaid being deducted from the debt of the Province in
calculating the subsidy payable to it.'

" With that clause in their hand our Government went to the
Dominion Executive and said that there was authority to receive our
money. The Dominon Government said they could get money at four
per cent, and asked why they should be compelled to receive ours at
five per cent. The British North America Act assisted our view of the
case, and the logic of the whole matter was in our favor. The Domin-
ion Government finally agreed to take the money, and it would be safely
placed in the Dominion Treasury at five per cent. He (Dr. P.) had
Little thought, as he stood examining the Esquimau dry dock, that it
was going to help us out of a difficulty and enable him to give a vote
that he might otherwise have some doubts about. After a careful con-
sideration of the whole subject he had no fears of an unsatisfactory
result, but one thing he desired to say. He wished to see this bonus
kept safely where it was to be placed. He regarded it as given to us in
trust for a special object, and whatever might be the pressure or
wherever it came from the Government should resist it and keep the
money for the purpose for which it was given in the Dominion Treasury.
He would be very sorry indeed if any portion of it was withdrawn until
the sinking fund arrived at an amount which would place it beyond all
peradventure. That would be forty years hence, when he would be no
longer here to find fault. Then, if anything should happen the company,
we would have in the Dominion Treasury $1,000,000 of our bonus,
yielding $50,000 per annum, to relieve us in part of any difficulty.

" There were some minor matters, which had been discussed in
Special Committee. One objection, which had been swept away, was the
spreading of the guarantee over a larger sum than $4,500,000. Provision
had been made for the guaranteed bonds of the two Western railroads,
amounting to £105,000 sterling. The Windsor and Annapolis Railway
bonds had now only fifteen years to run. Those of the Western
Counties Company had a longer time. This liability was to be met by
the company. How -it was to be done he did not know, but he trusted
the Government would see that when the bonds expired, which could not
now be purchased, there would be funds in their hands to meet them.
He was convinced that this matter would be carefully looked to.

" When He was asked if the syndicate would fulfil their obligations
he pointed to the fact that $6,500,000, 65 per cent, of their capital,
would have to be placed in the treasury, or under the control of the
Government, before we assumed any responsibility — it would not be
necessary for the syndicate to place that amount of cash in the hands of
the Government leaving the interest upon it, but what the Government
required was bonds or some other securities that could be readily con-
verted into cash, as occasion demanded. Some people assumed that the
Government would sign the guarantee before a penny was paid in, and
the syndicate would thus be enabled to raise the money required. He
(Dr. P.) was in a position to say that before a bond was signed the
amount named would be secured to the Government. Then the bonds
would be placed in the hands of the company, who could do as they liked
with them. The payment of the money as the work progressed, for
which provision was made, was an important matter to be borne in
mind. He maintained that the Government was in a position to control
the company. If the Government had the $6,500,000 in the treasury the

450 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

thing was beyond a doubt. As to what was to become of the shareholders
was not under discussion. They must take care of themselves. The
President of the Grand Trunk Railway, however, was a member of the
company. Was it to be supposed that he was going to sacrifice money
and reputation by embarking in such an undertaking as some parties
represented this to be? Or, take the Nova Scotia representatives, all
able, practical and successful business men, having embarked in this
speculation they had not done so to fail. (Applause.) He trusted that
his hopes concerning the success of the company would be fulfilled, and
that every man in Nova Scotia would eventually say that the words
which he had uttered had been literally fulfilled. A question had been
suggested as to the equipment of the roads — it was said that the com-
pany would never satisfactorily equip them. All that he could say was
that the men composing the company were practical business men.
They knew what they had before them, and he believed they would
fulfil their engagements. The Pictou road was in the hands of the
Minister of Railways and Canals, and unless he (Dr. P.) was mistaken,
before he transferred the road, he would take care that sufficient rolling
stock to efficiently carry on the work was on the road. In relation to the
question of tariff, he would refer hon. members to the Railway Act of
1880. He was sure that every one who read that Act would say that no
better could have been placed upon the Statute Book. [The hon. member
here referred to and read the 6, 9, 10 and 11 sub-sections of clause 17
of the Act.] He thought that if these sections were not sufficiently bind-
ing nothing could be. One important feature of the Bill was that the
principal offices were to be in Halifax. He regarded it as fortunate that
this provision had been made. Suppose a collapse did take place, and
of this he thought there was not the smallest probability, all that we
would have to meet would be the interest on $2,500,000. Now, the mort-
gage which we were to receive covered the entire property, including
the road from Canso to Louisburg, and Eastern Extension, Pictou and
Windsor branches, the Western Counties Road, the Windsor and
Annapolis Railway, the running powers over the Intercolonial from
Truro to Halifax, and the new branch from the Junction to Dartmouth
and that to Pictou town. If the collapse referred to took place, the
Province would get 450 miles of railway, built at an average cost of
$5,550 per mile. Should the company fail to carry out their undertak-
ing, with that number of miles cf road in their possession, and at that
cost, he would recommend the Government, if they could not themselves
successfully manage these consolidated roads, to place them in the
hands of a doctor. The Intercolonial Railway had been for some time
in the hands of Mr. Mackenzie. He selected Mr. Brydges, a very
experienced man, to take charge. When Mr. Mackenzie retired from
office, and Sir John A. Macdonald came in, the road was sinking money
rapidly and there was a deficit of between $600,000 and $700,000 a year.
What did Sir John do? He sent for a doctor, the present Minister of
Railways (laughter), better known down here as Dr. Tupper, and what
was the result? The result was that last year, for the first time in the
history of the road, there was a surplus to its credit and this year,
unless he was mistaken, the surplus from the earnings of the road
would be at least a quarter of a million dollars. (Applause.) If the
company allowed the road to pass out of their hands, he (Dr. P.) be-
lieved that the more immediately interested municipalities would pur-
chase the roads themselves rather than to Jiave them cease their opera-
tions, and run them and make money out* of them. Another objection
was, that the Dominion Government should take control of the Eastern
Extension. He (Dr. P.) did not concur in this. If the Dominion Gov-
ernment would take over the road and build from Canso to Louisburg.
and give us the $700,000 required to connect Digby with Annapolis, he
would recommend the Government of Nova Scotia to take it. But the
Dominion Government would not entertain the proposal. Honorable
gentlemen would remember the telegram sent by Sir Charles Tupper to
the Attorney-General, and any persons who were in the habit of read-

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 451

ing the Morning Herald must have been struck with the report of an
interview recently had by a correspondent of that paper with that
gentleman. From these it was clear that the Dominion Government
would not entertain the idea of repaying to this Government the sub-
sidy invested in the Eastern Extension Railway or of constructing a
road from Canso to Louisburg. Then came the suggestion made by
many persons, that difficulties would creep in and that litigation would
ensue, and the Government could not handle the syndicate. If any
difficulties did occur, it would be fcr the Supreme Court of Nova
Scotia or a court of arbitrators to settle. It struck him as singular that
there should be one objector in Halifax. If one place should support
this scheme more than another, it was the city of Halifax. If the people
of this city wanted to get back the trade with the Western Counties,
they would support the scheme. If they wanted to increase and secure
the trade with the eastern part of the Province, they would give their
support to the measure before us. There were some objectors in the
city, but they were short-sighted and did not know their own interests
or the interests of the Province as a whole. A through line to Yarmouth
would accomplish much for Halifax. To-day a merchant from Yar-
mouth would go on board a steamer at 9 o'clock in the evening and in
the morning be in St. John. He could transact his business there dur-
ing the day, take the steamer again, and the following day be home.
The completion of the line from Annapolis to Digby would give them
the same accommodation for doing business with Halifax by rail that
they now have by boat with St. John. The results ot a line to Sydney,
C.B., no one knew, in consequence of the state of the roads. To-day, he
believed, he could reach San Francisco sooner than Sydney. If the
railways were consolidated, the out districts of that Island, and other
districts of the Province now almost inaccessible, would be placed in all
but daily communication with the capital of the Province.

" The result would be beneficial not only to Halifax but to the whole
country. There were certain distant counties necessarily left out of the
scheme. This he regretted. He regretted that we had not money to
build right and left — north, south, east and west. Those counties must
be content to wait until Providence blessed us with a full treasury. One
compensation to them would be that we would be in a position to give
to those counties without railroads larger grants for other purposes than
hitherto. We had been so impoverished of late years that the grants
had to be curtailed, but now we could give extra amounts to compensate
them to some extent for the want of railroad communication, or, where
it could be done by subsidizing steamers. He believed that there
was an important and a successful future in store for this
long wharf of British North America. He believed that this Act
for the consolidation of our railways would be an important factor in
producing that result. It would add to its wealth and to its importance,
and would advance all its material interests. Now, he might say here
that but one tender had been referred to whereas others had been
received. He (Dr. P.) believed that there was no comparison between
the tender accepted by the Government and the others submitted to them.
He was familiar with the details of the correspondence. In one or two
instances he had been made the medium of communication between
parties tendering and the Government, but he was obliged to say to the
parties referred to, that it was useless for them to pursue the matter
further, as the Government had a much better offer. He congratulated
the Government and the Hon. Commissioner of Mines and Works for the
practical ability which they had displayed in the matter. Let people
say what they would, they had, in conducting this business, exhibited
an amount of ability rarely shown by governmental bodies. He was
glad to be able to make this remark. Their whole conduct merited, not
only his approbation, but that of every man in Nova Scotia, and the
time was coming, say what you would, when that ability and statesman-
like conduct would be acknowledged everywhere within the bounds of
Nova Scotia."

452 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

The subsequent defeat of the Holmes-Thompson Government
at the polls carried with it the railway consolidation scheme advo-
cated in this speech. Much that it contemplated has since been
accomplished through a Conservative Federal Government.

Session of 1884.

Previous to this time the Liberals had regained power.

In this session my father introduced a bill for the establish-
ment of a system of fire-escapes for the Province, of which bill he
was the author.

A section of the Public School Act, now undergoing revision,
being found to contain a clause under which separate apartments
or buildings might be provided for children of " different color,"
the late Hon. L. E. Baker moved to strike out this clause. This
my father seconded, as follows :

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he had great pleasure in seconding the
motion of his hon. friend from Yarmouth, and he did so because he
deemed it a duty which he owed to civilization and humanity, and a
duty which he owed to a large proportion, not comparatively to the
whole population, hut still to a large proportion of the taxpayers and
citizens of the city of Halifax, and he would emphasize the word citizen.
He himself was a British subject and he was thankful that no such
legislation as that contained in the clause now before the House existed
in any part of this Northern Continent with the exception of this Pro-
vince. Take New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, or the Provinces more
recently organized in the Dominion, and it would be found that there
was no such restriction existing there and no such restriction in any
other place, as he believed, in the British possessions. That being the
case, they would present before the community, not of this Dominion
alone, but before the community of nations, the unpopular position that
here, in the intelligent Province of Nova Scotia, they should seek to ex-
clude .these men and the children of these men from the privileges which
every citizen possessed in this Province. They called their schools free
and they called them common, but with these words in the statute the
schools could be considered neither free nor common; they were
exclusive and uncommon. He took this ground, and to his mind it was
a principle that was in violation of the constitution of the country we
lived in. In this province civil rights, religious rights and educational
rights were for every man and every man's child, and yet they were
striving, or some persons in this city would strive, to exclude these
people from the privileges which the law was supposed to confer upon
every citizen. These colored people were citizens performing the
duties of citizenship. When the tax collector came to their
doors he did not pass by them without first collecting the
taxes due by them as ratepayers, and he maintained that, with
a tax in a country like ours, all the rights and privileges of citizenship
should be enjoyed. He maintained that it should be with every mem-
ber of this Legislature a principle that we should give to all equal rights,
civil, religious and educational. He had listened with a great deal of
attention, and a great deal of pleasure, yesterday, to the statements
made by some of the colored men who had come before the committee —
one connected with a religious body to which he belonged, and another
connected with the Methodist body. They had come here as
educated men and their desire was to elevate those to whom they were
sent as preachers and they had done much towards that end. They had

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 453

done much to educate and elevate those people to whom they were sent,
but they saw this distinction, and they saw that children living in the
northern end of the city had to pass the doors of the school situate in
their section, and perhaps walk a mile or miles, because the color line
excluded them from the schools which they ought properly to be allowed
to attend. One of them had very well put it to the committee, that
they would not admit the child of a respectable colored man, who was
obliged to pass the school, while the child of a prostitute might enter
and receive an education there. Now there was one central idea run-
ning through all tbe statements made yesterday by those who opposed
the passage of this amendment, and it was this — popular prejudice. But
he would ask his hon. friends around these benches, what they had to
do with popular prejudices? Were they here as independent men to
yield to popular prejudices or were they here to legislate in view of the
grand principle of the constitution of the country from which they came
and to which they owed their allegiance, that every man should have
equal rights and privileges in the eye of the law. He maintained that
if they yielded to this pressure, which had no principle behind it but
was simply a prejudice to which no respect was due, they would be de-
grading themselves and this Legislature. He used such a strong term,
but this House was here to legislate for all the people of this country,
and if they violated that principle of legislation they would be doing
injustice to themselves, injustice to the community in which
they lived, and more especially injustice to the class of people
here seeking redress at their hands to-day. This House was
peculiarly an independent body, not subject to popular prejudices
but elevated above prejudice; their tenure of office differed from
that of the gentlemen in the other branch of the Legislature,
and they were to give judicial opinions in just such cases as this
which was now before the House. He maintained that if he were to
vote against this amendment he would be doing violence to the fixed
principles of the constitution, and what was more, he would be doing
violence to his conscience, which he trusted he would never do. Those
who were present yesterday, admitted that those people had principle
on their side, that the right principle was theirs, but that a pressure
was brought to bear, which they had to consider. But when once a man
conceded that the principle was on his side he need not fear what the
prejudices against that principle might be, for no matter what prejudices
might be arrayed against it, the principle in the end was bound to
triumph. The time of the House was valuable and his own time was
limited, and therefore he would not detain the House at much greater
length, but there were one or two things more which he would refer to
before sitting down. He had had the privilege of studying at one of the
larger universities of the British Empire, having been partially edu-
cated at the University of Edinburgh. In that institution there sat by
his side, as close to him as his hon. friend from Annapolis was now
sitting, a colored man, with a very dark skin, an Ethiopian in fact; he
was an unusually well educated man and he had obtained the respect of
his fellow students and of his teachers and professors. Suppose that
man were here to-day — suppose that man's child were here to-day, he
would be excluded from these schools, yet he could attend the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh and obtain instruction there without the smallest
attempt at hindrance. He (Dr. P.) could support this measure also from
his own experience. He could well recollect the time when a little
colored boy had come into his office, whom he had kept for twenty long
years. That boy had grown to manhood in his employ, but the first thing
he had done with him was to send him to school to be educated. The
question arose where was he to send him. There was no common school
system at that time, but he was a contributor to the National School
and he sent him there and asked that he should be received into the
school. Admission was refused. He had then gone to the late Robert
Noble and Dr. Hill, one was president and the other secretary. He had

454 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

urged that he (Dr. Parker) was a contributor to the school for some
years and that the principle on which the school was founded was that
it was to be established for the poorer class and that all should be edu-
cated, no reference having been made in the constitution of the school to
color at all. He had insisted on the right of this boy to attend the
school. They did not resist. They had to acknowledge that he was
right and the boy was admitted. He went there and received such an
education as fitted him for usefulness in the family in which he lived
and died, and died as much esteemed and respected as any other citizen.
During that period there were various changes in the household but that
man obtained and retained the respect, and he might say, the affection
of those who were associated with him. He (Dr. Parker) had also had
a good deal of experience as a physician moving about among all
classes, and mingling with the poor, both white and' black, and he would
make this statement and make it publicly, and he knew it could not be
refuted. There were some poor colored people, no doubt, as there were
whites, who were not as cleanly in their persons as they should be, but
he maintained this, that in his own experience, taking the lower classes
of the people, the colored people were as cleanly and tidy in their habits
as were the white people of their class. Like his hon. friend from Yar-
mouth he had travelled in the Southern States, and he had spent not long
ago three months in Virginia. The Legislature was in session, and he
visited it day after day. In one House — the House corresponding to
this — there were six colored representatives. In the House that corre-
sponded to our House of Assembly there were eight colored men, arid
the cleverest man of the whole Congress was a colored man. He had
been educated as a lawyer, and would no doubt rise to eminence in his
profession. Now, the gentlemen who had appeared before the commit-
tee yesterday were asking simply for their rights. They were not asking
for social equality. They said they did not wish to force themselves into
the unwilling presence of the white men, but all they wanted was that
their children should have the same facilities for being educated and
fitted for positions of usefulness and respectability in life as their
neighbors, whose children were of a different color. He was greatly
pleased with the way in which those colored men had presented their
case. It was done intelligently with moderation and in a proper spirit,
and when they told the committee what they wanted, he, for one, felt
that he would do his duty in giving them justice. If he were not to do
so by his voice and his vote, he would be unfaithful to the duty that de-
volved upon him as a legislator placed here for the purpose of guarding
the interests of the people in just such questions as this. He had but
one word more and he would put the matter to the House in the simple
language of the golden rule, that ' we should do unto others as we would
have others do unto us.' Not long ago two friends of his had had a
quarrel. The one was a dogged Scotchman, firm and decided in his
temper, the other was a Nova Scotian. They had a disagreement about
a matter of business, and the one was about to sue the other. A few
days, however, elapsed, when the Scotchman walked into the office of the
other and said to him, ' I have come to pay your account.' The other
said, ' I am very glad, but what has produced the change?' The other
said, ' I went home and thought over the matter and put myself in your
place and arguing from your standpoint, I saw in a moment I was in
error and you were right. I have come to make amends and there is
your money.' Now, he would just commend this to gentlemen who
opposed this bill. Let them place themselves in the position of those
poor colored folks and what would be the result. They would find that
if they were to do in this matter as they would wish to be done by, they
would give equal facilities and advantages to those people with the
facilities and advantages which they themselves enjoyed. He would
conclude by reading a memorandum which he had received from the
present teacher of one of the public schools — Mr. Andrews — it was an
important document, and bore directly upon the question before the
House. The memorandum was substantially as follows:

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 455

' ' I have been teaching about seven years, and for the past two
years as principal of the National School. A short time after taking
charge of the school I was asked to allow some colored boys to attend.
I consented, and since that day six have attended the different depart-
ments of the school. They have all behaved well and no disagreeable
results have followed their attending the school. Before they came I
told the boys that they were coming, that they wanted an education, and
as their parents paid taxes like other people they had the same right
there as white children. They sit, play and recite with the other boys,
and I have never heard anybody object. The attendance has not fallen
off, and last of all, one of the boys will be ready for the High School
next, summer.'

" He (Dr. Parker) felt assured that if other schools would just open
their doors, and proper discipline was observed, there would be no diffi-
culty in the case."

He consistently opposed the pernicious principle of the muni-
cipal bonus to business undertakings. On one occasion he advo-
cated a law prohibiting it. It was as odious to him as was the
inordinate appetite of municipalities for borrowing money beyond
their needs, and whose borrowing bills, easily enough gliding
through the elective branch of the Legislature, he strenuously
resisted and held up in the Council, unless a specially good case
for the indulgence could be established.

An example of his dealing with the latter class of bills occurs
above (session of 1875). An instance of his attitude toward the
former class occurs in this session, as follows :

" COTTON FACTORY RAILWAY SIDING.

" On the reading of the bill to enable the city of Halifax to aid in
the construction of a railway siding to the cotton factory —

" Hon. Dr. Parker said that important interests were involved in
this bill and it was well that the House should consider the matter
seriously before passing to the second reading. The gentlemen who were
pressing the bill upon the Legislature seemed disposed to place the
council in a false position with reference to matters of this kind. The
argument had been pressed upon the House of Assembly and also upon
the committee of the Legislative Council that the citizens of Halifax
having voted in favor of the grants of this money to the cotton factory
company, the credit of the city and the honor of the city were pledged
in such a way that the Council could not properly veto the passage of the
measure. He thought the effect of a doctrine like that was to make this
body a mere machine to carry out the behests of the City Council. He
trusted that such a principle as that would never be recognized in this
House. While this body continued and while he had the honor of a seat
in it. he would take exception to any such principle and he should
always endeavor to exercise his independent judgment as a member of
this House upon every measure that came before it. His convictions as
to what was right in reference to this matter differed from those gentle-
men who were pressing this view upon the Legislature and he intended
to move that the bill be deferred until this day three months. There
were several gentlemen who had recently come into this body and who
were not familiar with the facts connected with the question before the
House, and he would therefore briefly refer to the facts of the case. In
the year 1881 a company was organized with a capital of $330,000 to
work in the neighborhood of Halifax a cotton manufactory. They sought
at the hands of the city corporation a sum of money to enable them to

456 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

place a siding near their factory, having determined to place their building
in the northern part of the city. The civic body entered into an agree-
ment with them, the purport of which was that they should give $9,000
towards this object if the consent of the Legislature could be obtained.
He would emphasize the condition as to the consent of the Legislature
which he had just mentioned. The 'City (Council thus acknowledged
that the Legislature must be a consenting party to any such arrange-
ment as they proposed to make with the cotton company. Now it had
been represented that it would be a dishonorable thing on the part of
this Legislature to refuse its consent to such an arrangement. He
repudiated that view altogether. He maintained that there were three
parties whose consent was requisite to the existence of a valid agree-
ment and if the consent of one of these three could not be obtained the
proposed Agreement became null and void, and no dishonor could attach
to the party who having been left free to consent or to decline, had
chosen to exercise his option by refusing to give his consent. At the
very time .that the city was pledging its credit, as the promoters of this
bill haa represented it had done to this cotton factory company, for a
free gift of $9,000 in aid of the construction of this railway siding, the
city was in circumstances of what might be called great financial dis-
order. It was indebted to the commissioners of the city schools in the
sum of $53,570.22; the board of public charities $13,361. The school
teachers had been obliged to wait until a more convenient time to draw
the salaries which they had earned in the service of the city. Money had
to be borrowed from the bankers, or procured in any way that the civic
authorities could do it and the sum total of their indebtedness was $147,-
823.40. The statement in reference to the financial condition of the city
was made by a gentleman who is now seeking the office of mayor and
who had taken a great interest in the financial affairs of the city and had
been largely instrumental in effecting an improvement in the civic
finances. Hon. Dr. Parker here read from a circular signed by Mr. Mack-*
intosh showing the financial condition of the city at or about the time
when this sum of $9,000 had been voted by the City Council to the cotton
manufacturing company, and proceeded to observe that as had been men-
tioned by one of the gentlemen who appeared before the Select Committee,
the amount of the civic taxation that the cotton company was exempt
from amounted in 20 years to $94,000. The water supply had been fixed
at $300 a year, which he thought was a very small figure. The gas com-
pany, of which his hon. friend the President of the Council, was presi-
dent, with a capital of $400,000, had paid last year in taxes nearly $6,000 —
the greater portion of which was for civic taxation — besides a large sum
for water, while the amount of water consumed by the gas company was
small in comparison with that used by the cotton company. Reference
had also been made before the committee to the fact that a single
gentleman in this community employed just as many men and paid out
as large a weekly amount in wages as the cotton company, and yet he
had received no concessions and never sought for any such concessions
as had been accorded to this company. He did not know whether that
gentleman had made a fortune or not, but he hoped he would do so,
for he had put forth a noble effort — while doing himself good, to do
good to the community at large. He referred to the shoe factory of Mr.
Taylor. The ropewalk at Dartmouth, of which Mr. Stairs was the pro-
prietor, also required a large amount of capital and Mr. Stairs had been
obliged to get his water supply by purchasing a lake which had not
prior to that been worth six hundred cents, but for which he had been
obliged to pay $2,400. The town of Dartmouth had never given him a
subsidy, and so far as he was aware, no subsidy had ever been asked for.
Now it had been assumed that when this cotton factory company was
organized it would enhance the value of property in the neighborhood to
a very considerable extent, but he thought he was safe in saying that
that expectation had been disappointing. He was connected with an
institution which in the last thirty years had loaned four and a half

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUXCIL 457

million of money, principally in the City of Halifax, to mechanics and
persons owning small properties. The secretary of that corporation had
informed him that he had not noticed any perceptible change in the
value of property as a result of the operations of this company.

" Now, the principal point that had been urged in favor of the passage
of this measure, was one to which he had referred incidentally already,
namely, that it would be morally improper for this House to refuse its
sanction to the bill — to his mind the morality of the question was all
the other way. He maintained that a city plunged in debt, as the docu-
ment of Mr. Mackintosh, to which he had referred, conclusively proved the
City of Halifax was, to the extent of a quarter million, had no right to
give $9,000 to this corporation. Had he had a voice in the matter he
should at once have given his vote, as a director, against any such pro-
ceeding, and he intended that this House, in view of the condition of
the City of Halifax at the present day, had no right to permit such a
bill as this to pass. It would produce a bad effect in other municipalities
which, if this bill were allowed to pass, would be coming in and asking
for the same powers that had been given to the City of Halifax. For
these reasons, without occupying the time of the House to any greater
length, he would move that the bill be deferred until this day three
months."

The bill was deferred accordingly. It may be added that my
uncle, F. G. Parker, was a director of the Company which was
seeking the City's aid or bonus in this instance, and that my father
was a shareholder.

Session of 1885.

In this session, as chairman of the Select Committee, we find
him contending with the improvident borrowing propensities of
the City of Halifax — a task which often devolved upon him. At
the close of a lengthy discussion upon his report on a number of
city bills before the House at this time, he is thus reported :

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he had sent to the auditor asking him for a
statement of the financial position of the city at the present time, to
which he had received a reply. He might explain that the funded debt
was brought down to date, but that the floating debt had no reference
to any deficiency that might occur in the present year. The statement
showed that the city had $13,960 cash in the bank and $46,230 taxes still
to be collected. The auditor expressed the hope, therefore, that they
would come out square, but added that he could not tell until the year
was closed. That settled the question as to there being no funds and
placed the argument of his hon. friends who supported the $2,000 loan,
outside of the consideration of the House. He thought it proper, while
referring to this matter, that he should make a personal explanation. It
might be supposed by some hon. members that because he was a resident
he was the owner of property here, and materially interested in this
matter. He desired to say that it was not so. He did not own a single
foot of ground or a house in the city, but was here as an independent
member to protect the interests of the citizens of Halifax. He would
therefore deal with city bills to-day just as he would deal with a bill
relating to the Town of Yarmouth or Amherst. He considered it his
duty as a legislator for the Province of Nova Scotia, which included the
City of Halifax, to consider in every case the interests and rights of
the people who were to be affected by the legislation introduced into this
House. Whenever and wherever he could sustain the City Council he
desired to do so because that was the body elected especially to carry

458 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

on the municipal services, but he could not sustain them in opposition
to his own sense of what was just and right. He made this explanation
because it might be imagined that he was interested in property. He
had been in that position at one time, he was not in that position to-day,
and was not likely to be in that position again if civic matters continued
as at present. He hoped he might be excused for making this explana-
tion, but he thought it proper under the circumstances.

" Hon. Mr. Black believed that the hon. gentleman would be actuated
by the same principles of justice and right if he were a large property
owner in the city as he now was, not being a property owner."

On an enquiry whether the Government would make an appro-
priation of funds to aid in the support of the families of men of
the militia who were serving with the force for the suppression of
the North-West rebellion:

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he would not like to allow this matter to pass
without saying a single word in reference to it. In company with seven
or eight members of this House yesterday, he had visited the drill-shed
and had seen the men of the 63rd Regiment, who were to join the com-
posite battalion ordered to take arms in the defence of our common
country. He had been pleased with the men there and pleased with the
words uttered by the commanding officer of the regiment when he spoke
to the men of their duty in a spirit and terms that were most gratifying.
He referred to Major Walsh, of the 63rd Regiment. In reference to the
remarks made by the hon. member from South Colchester, he might
say that while this Legislature, of course, had no right, in the abstract
meaning of the term, to make such an appropriation, as had been sug-
gested for the maintenance and support of those who were left behind, —
the wives and children of those who had gone to fight the battles of
their country — at the same time he thought it would not be amiss for
the Legislature of Nova Scotia to adopt some such course as that sug-
gested by his hon. friend. Private effort, he felt assured, would not
permit those people, should the Nova Scotia militia be called away, to
suffer. He felt that there was generosity and sympathy sufficient in the
breasts of those left behind to take care of the wives and families of
those who were called to the front, and more especially should widows
and fatherless children be left behind. There was another class, too, that
should have the sympathies of those who remain at home, that was the
widows who were left dependent upon their sons who had gone to join
the army at the front. He should be very glad as a member of this
Legislature and as a citizen of Nova Scotia, and more especially as a
citizen of Halifax, if some such suggestion as that made by the hon.
member for South Colchester should be acted upon. They would be
simply paying a compliment to the body of militiamen who had gone
forward, and it would be a stimulus to them on any future occasion,
should the country demand their services, to volunteer instead of being
drafted for such duty. It struck him that it would be a very wise, and
not a very expensive, one to carry out. He trusted that Providence would
overrule the events that were transpiring in the western portion of this
Dominion and that there would not be any need for our militiamen to go
into that distant part to aid in the suppression of rebellion; but should
such a necessity exist as should demand them, he was proud to say that
Nova Scotia would not be behind the other Provinces of the Dominion,
and that if a few did hesitate about going from reasons best known to
themselves, the great mass of the people would be ready to co-operate
in the putting clown of the rebellion, and more especially to reward as
ho should be rewarded, the man who was the murderer of one of the
defenders of our country some years ago. He referred to the leader of
this rebellion, Riel, who stood to-day as a murderer. He trusted that
such action would be taken as would bring that man to justice and

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 459

prevent him on any subsequent occasion from raising rebellion against
the country. Such men could obtain everything that they merited in a
country like this by constitutional means; and it was a sad thing for the
country when such men were stimulated by ambition, or by such motives
as operated upon their minds, to raise rebellion against the constituted
authorities of the country and bring sadness and trouble into the homes
of the people of this land. As individuals we should do our duty in
relation to this matter. There was no man in the country worthy of the
name of a man who would not put his hand in his pocket, if need be, to
contribute1 towards the maintenance of those who were left behind under
the circumstances already referred to, but he would again repeat and
emphasize the word, that it would be an act that would repay the Province
well if a grant were made from the public treasury for the purpose by
way of contribution to the fund."

On the report of the Committee on Humane Institutions :

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he had read in this report a suggestion that
the municipalities should relieve the central building at Mount Hope of
a large number of the patients now in it, who were not of a dangerous
class and might as well be treated in county establishments, at a much
cheaper rate than they could be in the institution at Mount Hope, and
where every care could be given to them and the sanitary conditions would
certainly be safer than those of the institution referred to in the report
of his hon. friend. This clause had been from time to time recommended
by the superintendent of the institution. He believed that county poor
houses should be erected, or county asylums, where a number of cases
that are chronic, or at all events that were not acute, could be taken
charge of. He thought this was a very feasible plan, that three or four
counties or two or three counties might combine their funds in this way
in some central locality and establish an institution where insane persons
who were not dangerous could be treated, thus relieving the central insti-
tution. As a matter of course all acute cases would have to come here,
because provision was made which could not be made in an institution
such as was suggested. He had hoped that the day was not distant when
some such measure would be introduced and that it would be compulsory
upon the municipalities to deal with this matter so as to relieve the
institution at Mount Hope. He believed that there were some 50 or 100
patients more in that establishment than there should be. No such build-
ing should be overcrowded, because the moment it was overcrowded,
sickness and disease raight be expected which no medical officer
in charge could prevent and which no medical officer should
be blamed far. It was a very difficult thing for a medical officer
in such an institution to refuse admission, particularly to acute and
dangerous cases, but it was not right that the institution should be over-
crowded with risk to the lives and health of the inmates, and he hoped
the Government, if it was not now too late to deal with the matter,
would not let another session pass without this matter receiving their
attention. Although those unfortunate people were deprived of their
reason they were human beings like ourselves, connected with families
and friends throughout the Province who thought of them with as much
tenderness and affection, and perhaps more, than if they were in their
right mind, who were at that institution in a position of danger and in a
position in which the medical officer was powerless to help them. The
drainage of the building was defective and had always been so. Under
such circumstances the health of the inmates must always be threatened
but the danger was intensified to a tenfold degree when the building
was overcrowded. His attention as a legislator and as a professional man
had been called to this condition of things not unfrequently by the super-
intendent, and he felt that he would fail in the performance of his duty if
he permitted this report to pass without directing the attention of the
House to this matter. He hoped the hon. leader of the Government would,

460 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

during the recess, think over the matter and see if he or his colleagues
could not in that interval suggest some way by which he could remedy
this state of things.

"The defective drainage of the institution was not the fault of this
Government, as the work had been badly done at the commencement, and
although it had been rectified to a certain extent, there had always been
defects in the drainage and unhappily at this date there was no plan, as
there should be for every public building, to show where the drains were
constructed and where they met and crossed; this fact complicated the
difficulties of the case. The drainage of such an institution was a diffi-
cult and expensive matter, but it was money well expended, inasmuch
as it was expended in the cause of humanity and in the restoration to
health of that most helpless and unfortunate class of the population. He
would again repeat that he was thankful that his hon. friend had referred
to this matter, it was his duty to do so, and he hoped that the Govern-
ment had put in the estimates a sum sufficiently large to secure the safety
of the patients in case of fire. He thought that that sum might strike some
people, not so deeply interested in the matter as the members of this
House were, as being a very large sum of money, but it was really an
exceedingly small amount of money considering the object in view. He
would give all credit to the Government for having acted so promptly
with reference to this matter and he would only hope that the amend-
ment that had been put on the statute book in relation to fire escapes,
making it compulsory on municipalities to carry out the provisions of the
law, would be effective."

Session of 1886.

On the eve of his departure for England, during this session,
we find the following report of a proceeding in the House with
reference thereto:

" IIXNESS OF DR. PARKEB.

" Hon. Mr. Owen stated that the Hon. Dr. Parker intended to leave
for England to-morrow in consequence of ill health, and in view of the
very high esteem in which that hon. gentleman was held in this House,
and also as a citizen and in his professional capacity, he was sure that the
absence of the hon. gentleman would be regretted, and that he would have
the best wishes of this House for a very pleasant visit and for his safe
return with restored health. He therefore had much pleasure in moving
the following resolution: —

" Resolved ' That the members of the Legislative Council do hereby
express regret, that the health of the Hon. D. McNeill Parker is so im-
paired as to render it necessary for him to deprive this House of his
presence and valuable services during the remainder of the present ses-
sion, and they encourage the hope that his contemplated visit to Great
Britain may result in his perfect restoration to health and his return to
his native Province in such strength and vigor as will enable him to
prosecute his legislative and professional duties with the marked ability
and efficiency that have heretofore characterized his efforts.'

" Hon. Mr. Morrison begged leave to second the motion for the adop-
tion of this resolution, and while doing so he had to express his regret
that the health of the Hon. Dr. Parker was such that he was under the
necessity of crossing the Atlantic in the hope that the sea breezes and the
climate of England, together with the great skill of English physicians,
might add to the improvement of his health. He had to say, further,
that since he had been in this House he had found the Hon. Dr. Parker
a genial and useful member of this branch of the Legislature, and he
hoped that the hon. gentleman would not be disappointed in the object
for which his present voyage across the Atlantic was undertaken, but
that he might return to this House in renewed strength and vigor to assist
in conducting the business of this country in the calm, quiet and forcible
manner in which he had been able to conduct it in the past.

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 461

" Hon. Mr. Creelman said he was sure that the resolution moved by
his hon. friend beside him expressed the sentiments of all hon. gentlemen
in this House. The Hon. Dr. Parker was compelled by the loss of health
to abandon his place for the present. That hon. gentleman was one of the
most active members of the House, always at his post and willing to
serve his country on all occasions. He (Mr. C.) hoped that he would be
restored to health and return to meet such of the members of this House
as should live to be here another year. He was quite sure that the reso-
lution moved by his hon. friend would express the wishes of the whole
House.

" Hon. Mr. Goudge suggested that it might be desirable that before
the Hon. Dr. Parker left our shores the expression of the feelings of this
House, which had been presented so forcibly and properly by the hon.
mover of the resolution, should be conveyed to the hon. gentleman, and,
without making any invidious distinctions, he thought that he might be
permitted to say that Hon. Dr. Parker was one of the most highly
esteemed of all the hon. gentlemen that had the honor to sit in this House,
not only among ourselves and in the community in which he lived,
but throughout the whole Province of which he was a native. Whether
here or elsewhere, he believed that the hon. gentleman would adorn his
native country, and that, as a Nova Scotian and a representative of Nova
Scotia, he would ever be a fellow countryman of whom we might justly
be proud.

" Hon. President said he felt that the House would most cordially
unite in passing this resolution, but he, nevertheless, would go through
the form of putting it to the House.

" The resolution was passed unanimously, and a copy ordered to be
forwarded at once to the Hon. Dr. Parker."

The report of proceedings at the next meeting has the fol-
lowing :

" Reply From Hon. Dr. Parker.

" Hon. President informed the House that he had received a reply
from the Hon. Dr. Parker to the resolution of the hon. House passed on
Friday last.

" The reply was read as follows :

" To the President and Members of the Legislative Council.

" Gentlemen, — The receipt of the resolution which the Legislative
Council did me the honor to pass to-day has taken me entirely by surprise
and I know not how to express in fitting language my thanks to that
body for the kindly and I may add the laudatory terms in which it is
couched. I regret that I am compelled to seek leave of absence before the
close of the session, but I have for sometime felt that it was imperatively
necessary for me to adopt this course.

" During our longer or shorter period of service in the Council, while
not unfrequently differing on public questions from some of you, I am
happy to say that I have ever been treated by the whole body, both in
debate and in our more private intercourse, with the utmost courtesy
and consideration, which I have highly appreciated and can never forget.
Your over-kind reference to the performance of my legislative duties does
not, I may frankly say, suggest to my own mind a hearty response, but
if I am spared to return and to resume those duties, I hope my ' sins of
omission and commission ' may be fewer in the future than in the past.

" Trusting that the uncompleted work of the session may, through
your efforts, be brought to a satisfactory termination, and that good may
result to the public and provincial interests therefrom, and wishing you
individually continued health and happiness,

" I have the honor to remain,

" Yours faithfully,

" D. MoN. Parker.

"Dartmouth, April 16th, 1886.

" The reply was ordered to be entered on the journals."

462 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

Session of 1887.

On the address in reply to the speech of the Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor. (The resolutions of the Fielding Government for the
Eepeal of the Union had been passed when my father was in
England in 1886.)

Hon. Dr. Parker — I wish to offer a few remarks in connection with
this address before it passes, and the first thing I may say that struck
me in connection with the speech was its omissions. One very important
omission has been suggested, having relation to the lateness of the ses-
sion. Why was the session of the Legislature postponed until the 10th
day of March, when the elections took place on the 15th of June last,
and all the members were qualified to take their positions? We all know
the reason. It was that our friends on the opposite side of politics had
determined to have a hand iii the contest that v/as about to take place
between the two parties for the reins of government at Ottawa. Now,
I may say that I do not think that such a condition of things should
exist. From the earliest moment in the history of Confederation I have
been of the opinion that there was no propriety in any action of that
kind being taken by the Legislatures of the Provinces in contests for power
in the Dominion Parliament. True, it has been a custom of some stand-
ing, and if my memory serves me right, the Ontario Legislature were
the first to initiate this system, by taking an active part against the
Dominion Government of the day, and I may say that that bad example
set by the Ontario Liberal Government has been followed to some extent
by those wiho sympathize politically with me, and who have followed suit.
The practice has been carried on with disastrous effects to those who
have engaged in it, and who have neglected their duties here for the
purpose of taking part in a contest with which they should not have
meddled.

" Hon. Mr. Goudge — .What about Ontario?

" Hon. Dr. Parker — They went into it also and have not been benefited
by it.

" Hon. Mr. Goudge — What about the Dominion Government taking
part in the Ontario elections?

" Hon. Dr. Parker — The Dominion Government stands to-day in
Ontario about where it did before, as the hon. gentleman will see when a
division is taken.

"Hon. Mr. Goudge — What about Mr. Mowat?

" Hon. Dr. Parker — Mr. Mowat has a very large majority, as the local
Government has in this country. But my opinion is that the local Legis-
lature should not have interfered in the political contest at all and that
the House should have been called together at an earlier day. Important
measures may be brought before us, although I do not see that any of
any great importance are foreshadowed in the speech. But such as they
are, they will require our attention, and we all know that in the sprang
of the year those honorable gentlemen engaged in agricultural pursuits
and in business avocations will be obliged to attend to their own affairs
and will be unable to give the attention to the legislation of the country
that it demands at our hands. It has generally been the case that the
meetings of the Legislature have been procrastinated to so late a day that
some gentlemen have been obliged to leave and others very reluctant to
remain to attend to the business of the country, and I hope that the lesson
that has been taught to the local governments in this contest that has
just ended will be a salutary one, and that the Government of Nova Scotia,
whether Liberal or Conservative, will not in future interfere in contests
for the Dominion Parliament.

" Now, there is another subject to which no reference is made in this
speech, and that is with reference to the status of the Legislative Council.

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 463

I suppose that the large accession that we have had to our numbers to-day
is an intimation to us that at the close of this session the doors of this
chamber will be closed and that we will be requested to take our depar-
ture and go hence. I shall not be sorry, sir, if that is the case. I see
a number of gentlemen, not all of them strangers to me, and remembering,
as I do, the statements which have been made by leading men connected
with the Liberal Party, I suppose I may assume that they have come here
pledged to send us about our business. I regret to see that no allusion
has been made to this matter. Now, it would hardly be right for any
hon. gentleman in this House to address himself to this speech without
saying a word as to the coming jubilee of Her Majesty. I quite concur
in all the statements which have been made in reference to Her Majesty,
and I believe the words of that beautiful song which we always hear,

'God Save the Queen,'

are the prayer that goes forth from all the Colonies of this vast Empire,
and I doubt very much whether there is any man — certainly there is no
right-thinking man in the whole Empire who would not offer from the
bottom of his heart the prayer that she may long be spared to reign over
a happy and prosperous people.

" References have been made to our agricultural interests, our fish-
eries and our coal trade. That is a very important subject and suggests
to me that it will be the duty of some hon. member, probably of myself,
to ask the Government to place before the House a pamphlet issued in
June by the local Government, in relation to these subjects. I shall ask
whether a pamphlet was not issued which describes in glowing terms the
Province of Nova Scotia as a field for the labor of agriculturists. In that
pamphlet we have what Sir Richard Cartwright would call the bright
side of the shield presented. During the past two or three years we have
had the dark side.

" We have been told that all these various industries of the country
are at a very low ebb, but in the pamphlet to which I have referred, and
which I trust will be laid before us, it will be seen that whatever may
be the views as to the prosperity of this country which the Government
have presented to us at home, they have not presented the same descrip-
tion of our condition and prospects to the people on the other side of the
water. This pamphlet was issued in June, 1886, and it states that ' the
total value of the fisheries of the Province for the year 1882 was $7,131,418.'
The pamphlet then proceeds to refer to the farming interests, and says
' that any practical farmer with a small capital may at once possess a good
and comfortable home, and by energy, industry and enterprise, make for
himself a fortune and position in Nova Scotia in a few years, such as he
could not obtain in a lifetime in Great Britain. For a man of energy and
industry combined with a small amount of money capital, no other part
of America offers the same inducements or presents the same advant-
age. * * The emigrant would find relief from that strain of landlord-
ism of which he has had an overdose already. He would find himself in
the midst of a population as intelligent as that of England, with every-
where an abundance of church and sdhool accommodation. Moreover, he
would find himself a citizen of a very decidedly rising country, and a
healthy and a pleasant country to live in.' This language is stronger than
any that I have ever felt at liberty to use. I have recently spent a few
months in the Old Country, and I have often been asked as to the con-
dition of this country, but I have never been able to present such a glow-
ing picture as that which this pamphlet contains. I have no doubt that
any hard working farmer with a little capital could make a good living for
himself, and by degrees reach a position of independence, if not of affluence,
but I never felt free to speak in such glowing terms as are contained in
the extract which I have read. I could certainly have said that, looking
at the growth of this Province for the last twenty years, it has been con-
stantly improving, and that it had a prospect of great and continual
advancement. The pamphlet then goes on to speak of the coal trade,

464 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

and the following statements are contained in reference to that important
industry. It states that the coal trade is steadily increasing. That last
vear one million three hundred and eighteen thousand two hundred and
ninety-five tons were produced, while only one-half of that amount was
produced ten years ago. It is true that in 1873 there was a falling off of
$44 000 You 'all know what took place about that time. There was a
change of government— Sir John went out and Mackenzie came in, but
things were reversed in 1878, and we find that for the next five years
or in the year 1885, at least, the royalty has risen to $104,000. How
much it will be for the present year I am not prepared to say. Now what
is that royalty due to? My hon. friend from Cumberland correctly says
that it is due to the National Policy, and that if we had not even the
small sum of fifty cents a ton imposed as a duty upon coal from the United
States there would be no such result under such circumstances, for no
coal would be sent to Montreal or Quebec. This large output is dependent
to a large extent upon the policy adopted by the Dominion Government.
In reference to fisheries, we must remember that in quite recent times
the fisheries of northern Europe have extended enormously, and that the
product of their fisheries are consumed by the Mediterranean trade. At
one time we had a large Mediterranean trade in fish and also a Brazil
trade. With reference to that subject other hon. gentlemen who sit
around me can speak with fuller knowledge than I possess, but we all
know that our fish trade, especially in the Mediterranean, has been largely
curtailed in consequence of the competition we have had to meet from
the products of Northern Europe. I will not say a word about our gold
mines as a field of industry, as enough has been said in reference to that
topic, but there is one matter which I wish to refer to, and but for which
I would not have risen to address the House. My hon. friend from Col-
chester has made a statement in reference to this very matter. I refer
to the memorial of the two Houses of the Legislature last year. The
hon. member from Colchester has stated that a committee was ap-
pointed from this House to meet with a committee of the other House,
composed of members from both sides. They met and adopted a memorial
in favor of better terms. Why was this? It has been widely circulated
over the length and breadth of the country that we were being unfairly
dealt with as a Province, and a large number of our own friends, who
had not looked into the matter and had not had an opportunity of
ascertaining the real truth of the condition of things, were influenced by
these reports circulated by the opposite party, and it was believed that
really the Dominion was making money to a large extent out of this
Province. When my hon. friend from Colchester joined that committee
he had not the most remote idea that his signature would be utilized in
the way in which it has been. I may say that it was a most unfair action,
and I can hardly find language to express my feelings which could properly
be used in a parliamentary assembly. If we had had the least impression
that our sentiments would be utilized in the way they have been, that
statements would go forth that both parties in this country were dis-
satisfied with the union, and that the leaders of both parties in the Legis-
lative Council and in the House of Assembly had expressed their dissatis-
faction— we would never have dreamed of taking the action that we did
take in reference to that matter, and I say that it was a most unfair
advantage that was taken of the co-operation given by the Opposition in
this House to the resolutions proposed by the Government. When I heard
of the use that was being made of that document I deeply regretted it
for the credit of the Province and of the Legislature. Now the hon. mem-
ber for Windsor has said that he hoped that both sides will join in a fur-
ther memiorial on this subject. J tell him that I for one will not do it.

" Hon. Mr. Goudge — Will you not do so in justice to your own
Province?

" Hon. Dr. Parker — After the way the Government treated the gentle-
men who signed the memorial, I would no more dream of joining with
them in such a transaction than I would of cutting off my hand. They

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 465

must learn to respect the condition and position of those who have associ-
ated themselves with these gentlemen for the purpose of attaining a
common object. Now, what were the facts? I, for one, had never looked
into the statements that were made as I should have done. I had never
gone to the blue books and examined the items of the account. I had
never gone over the credits for I had not the time to do so. That docu-
ment was adopted on the 21st of April, and before the Dominion Govern-
ment bad time to consider it or respond to it in view of the parliamentary
and administrative duties which they had to discharge, and which were
engaging tbeir whole attention, the Government of Xova Scotia introduced
their repeal resolution. In view of such conduct as that, I have already
stated what I will do. should the Government ask me to take part in any
such memorial again. I was going on to say that I did not know the
true position of things in respect to this matter, and very few men in this
Province did know that. The Government of Nova Scotia were evidently
not as familiar with the facts as they should have been. At Ottawa the
following statement was made by Mr. Blake. He said: ' I have an inter-
esting table of results as to the collection and distribution of our revenue
for the first ten years after Confederation. For Nova Scotia the receipts
were $19,112,000; expenditure, $21,175,000; the deficit, $2,000,000. "We find,
therefore, that Ontario and Quebec have to provide and have provided for
the bulk of the vast undivided expenditure resulting from the Confedera-
tion of the various Provinces composing the Dominion. It will be seen
from these statistics that some of the smaller Provinces, heavy as are their
contributions, are not yet adequate contributors to — on the contrary, they
are heavy drains on — the revenue of Canada; and it will be seen further
that the bulk of the expenditure, I may say every shilling of expenditure,
in the North-West and on the Pacific Railway, is contributed by the
Province from which I have the honor to come.' Now, these were^he
sentiments of Mr. Blake upon the subject. I was not familiar with the
facts of the case, although I had been aware of the general sentiments
entertained by Mr. Blake in reference to this subject; and I may say
further, that it was not until the other day that I was familiar with the
real facts of the case. The Finance Minister of the Dominion happened
to be speaking lately at Amherst, and he had with him a statement pre-
pared by the Deputy Minister of Finance, which showed that the Province
of Nova Scotia had received $857,200 more of public moneys on the various
public services of the Province than all the revenue which had been derived
from the Province. The matter came up in this way. The Minister of
Finance had said that Mr. Blake had made a statement that we had re-
ceived a very much larger sum than we had paid into the revenues. Mr.
Pipes then asked: ' Do you believe it?' And the Minister of Finance said:
' Yes. before I came here I asked Mr. Courtney to make up the whole
account. He has done so, and it appears from that that the Province of
Nova Scotia has overdrawn to the extent of $857,200.'

" Now, in view of the great difference of opinion in reference to this
matter, and of the conflicting statements that had gone abroad, Mr. Blake
making one statement and other gentlemen making different statements,
it was exceedingly important to get a correct statement before the country,
and my hon. friend from Colchester entered into this arrangement with
that view, and with that view alone. I may be permitted to give you a
secret — that it was my intention to move a resolution prefacing it with a
statement in reference to these grievances and concluding that the matter
should be settled by having one commissioner appointed by the Dominion
Government, one by the local government, and the other by the colonial
secretary, then Lord Stanley. One could hardly expect any man going
from Nova Scotia to be unbiased, however honest his intentions might be,
but by means of reference to a disinterested third person, such as the
colonial secretary would have appointed, we would have got at a sound
statement of the relation of this Province to the rest of the Dominion, and
the matter would have been settled forever. That was the view which I
took of the matter at that time. But my lamented friend, who has
30

466 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

passed away, doubtless to a happier land, and who had long labored here
faithfully and successfully — who was a worthy and an honest man — took
very strong ground upon this matter, and my impression is that it was to
him that I made this proposition. I certainly never had any other inten-
tion than that the real facts of the case should be arrived at. I may say,
in conclusion, as to this matter, that I will never again, so long as I have
a seat in this Legislature, assist the Government in such an agitation.

" I will now pass to the eighth clause of the speech, in which a refer-
ence is made to the Western Counties Railway. It has been stated that
the Dominion Government have taken steps for a settlement of that matter.
It is quite true that the matter is not definitely settled, but when a min-
ister of the crown comes down and stands befpre a public audience and
makes a statement to this effect, that now that the transcontinental line
across the country has been completed, the Government is prepared to help
railway construction in the lower Provinces of the Union, and that when
the Windsor branch is secured they will take up and consider the question
of consolidating the whole Western railway system of the Province, I think
we have good reason to be sure that that work will no longer be delayed,
but will be brought to a successful termination. My hon. friend from
Windsor speaks as if it were the duty of the Dominion Government to
plant a railway almost at every man's door. It is not their duty, but
having spent enormous sums of money in railway construction in connect-
ing the eastern Provinces with the Pacific seaboard it has done all that it
was bound to do. Nevertheless the Government is willing — having accom-
plished this great work — to take up the subject of railway construction in
the older Provinces, and the result will be that the western counties will
in a short time have continuous railway connection to the city of
Halifax. I have no doubt, therefore, that in a short time the county
of Digby will be connected with the Windsor and Annapolis Railway —
that the short line now being run through from Oxford to Pug-
wash will be completed, and that we shall have to thank the
Dominion Government that the island of Cape Breton, to which my hon.
friend who has just spoken belongs, will no longer be crying for justice,
but will enjoy the advantage of a railway running throughout its whole
extent to Louisburg. Then we have as a moral certainty the prospect of a
short line which will connect the Canadian Pacific Railway with the port
of Halifax, and which will result in a rapid expansion of the grain trade
so as to bring prosperity to this city and cause it to expand at a more
rapid rate than it has ever done in its past history.

" I have occupied already more time than I had intended to, as I only
rose for the purpose of referring to one subject in the address, but may be
permitted to say one word before I sit down in reference to the Nictaux
and Atlantic Railway. The difficulties with respect to that matter were
caused in the beginning by the Government, supported by my hon. friend
on my left, which should have paid out the subsidy in accordance with the
mileage of the road that was complete, but instead of doing so had un-
happily allowed the money to be expended without securing an adequate
return from the company. The Dominion Government really had nothing
to do with that road. It was the Local Government that was responsible
for its inception, and it was the Hon. Mr. Annand, who then occupied a
seat in this House, who was responsible for the way in which the subsidy
was paid. From that day to this difficulties surrounded this work, but I
may say, as has already been said, that these difficulties will in a short
time be over. I am glad to say that the Federal Government will soon
take hold of this vexed question, which never should have been touched
by the- Local Government at all. They committed a grave mistake when
they touched that road with no funds at their disposal. They gave a
soiibsidy to that railway, and there it has been for fifteen years struggling
and striving to live with a single wheelbarrow one day and half a dozen
the next. I hope that that road will be taken up by the Federal Govern-
ment, and that they will agree to become responsible for its completion."

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 467

Later in the debate on the address he is thus reported :

" Hon. Dr. Parker — I would just like to say a few words before the
address passes. My statements the other day all tended in the direction
that the hon. gentlemen who signed the address to the Dominion Govern-
ment, that in reference to better terms, and those who acted on the com-
mittee never for a moment were informed or dreamed that any action
they had taken would be used as an argument in favor of a repeal of the
Union, or that their names would be held out before the public as persons
who were dissatisfied with the Union and were desirous of accomplishing
repeal. I discussed this matter with the late Government, led by Hon. Mr.
Holmes, and said to some of the members of the party that if the Dominion
Government have done this country injustice there is an easy way of set-
tling this matter — that was the mode that I referred to in the remarks
that I addressed to the House on Friday, namely, to leave the matter to
arbitration; not to have Mr. Blake coming in to-day with one statement,
Mr. Fielding with another to-morrow, and Mr. Goudge with another, but
to have some authoritative statement which would command the confidence
of the whole country. Mr. Holmes and the Government of that day were
desirous of getting better terms, but they never dreamed for a moment of
taking any further action in case those efforts should fail. It was their
determination to secure their object by legal, proper and constitutional
metbods. But their successors, having transmitted the memorial asking
for better terms, did not wait for a reply, but immediately launched out
into the subject of repeal, and demanded a settlement of this matter at
the polls. That is where I say a grievous injustice was done to those of
us on this side of the House who took part in that movement. Now the
hon. member from Windsor has referred to Mr. Blake changing his opinion.
He may have done so, but he never recalled the statement that I quoted in
reference to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway having cost
the Province of Nova Scotia nothing.

" Hon. Mr. Goudge — 'When was that statement made?

" Hon. Dr. Parker — I cannot refer to the precise date, but it was the
same occasion to which I have already referred. Hon. Mr. Blake presented
a calculation which had cost him a great deal of time to prepare, and in
the preparation of which, in all probability, he had the assistance of a
number of men competent to aid him in such a matter. The hon. member
says that Hon. Mr. Blake has withdrawn this statement. Well, it is quite
possible that Mr. Blake may make a statement to-day and recall it to-
morrow. He seems to be as fickle as the waves of the sea driven before
the wind. Just before the recent elections he recalled all that he had said
in the past with reference to the National Policy. After having opposed
that policy for years he at the last moment stated publicly that even if
he were successful at the polls he would not interfere materially with
the tariff, which has caused so much discussion and so much excitement
throughout the whole Dominion. The Toronto Grip, which generally
supports Mr. Blake and his party, presented a cartoon in a late number, in
which it represented Mr. Blake and Mr. Cartwright holding on to the tail
and trunk of the National Policy elephant and riding to Ottawa in that
position. This was a perfectly truthful representation of the attitude of
those gentlemen. It may suit Mr. Blake to make a statement one day with
reference to the National Policy and change his mind the next; to make an
elaborate calculation one day and confess the next day that he was mis-
taken. Under such circumstances he is not to be relied on. The matter
should be settled beyond all cavil or dispute in some such way as that
which I have proposed, so that the question would be settled once for all,
and in future controversies or negotiations the line would be drawn at
the date of that settlement. I do not think I need deal with this matter
at any great length. The members of this House were deceived. I cannot
say that I was personally deceived, for I was not in the country, but I
was amazed and astonished when I saw what had been done by the Govern-
ment, and that before the Dominion authorities had time to answer the

468 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

memorial of this Legislature, a declaration was made by the Government
of Nova Scotia in favor of the separation from the Dominion; that they
were determined to dismember the Dominion and sail under independent
colors. I believe that the House is anxious to get through with this dis-
cussion and present the address to-day, and therefore I shall add nothing
further to the remarks I have already made."

On the bill respecting Victoria General Hospital, by which,
among other things, the institution received that name in honor of
the Queen's Jubilee:

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he was very glad that the Government of Nova
Scotia had resolved to celebrate the Jubilee of our Most Gracious Sovereign
in the manner proposed in this bill. He did not know of any more appro-
priate way of doing so than to erect a humane institution or to add a large
wing or wings to such an institution already erected. The point to which
he would like to refer was this. In years past there had been an arrange-
ment made with the Dominion Government that they should treat in this
hospital of ours the sailors. This was done in connection with the Marine
and Fisheries Department, and he would like to ask whether, before
dealing with this matter and asking from this Legislature a grant of
twenty thousand dollars for the purpose, they had taken the precaution
to ascertain whether it was the intention of the Dominion Government to
continue the present arrangement or not. This was important, because
he found that there were a large number of sailors annually treated in that
institution, and he would like to know if it was the intention of the Gov-
ernment in building the wing that these cases should be treated in the
hospital. It might happen that two or three years hence these cases might
be withdrawn, and a Marine Hospital might be provided as in the Province
of Quebec and in Newfoundland. If so, it might be found that the Govern-
ment, in making provision for such cases, would discover that they had
not acted with the precaution which should have marked their procedure
with reference to so important a matter.

" He found in looking over the statistics which he held in his hand
(the Report of the Board of Charities) that there had been treated last
year in the hospital, 614 cases, of which 106 were sailors. The number
of sailors, therefore, bore a very large proportion to the whole, and it would
be at once seen that the point to which he had referred was, therefore, a
very important one, and he would now ask the hon. leader of the Govern-
ment if any communication had taken place with the Dominion Govern-
ment before they had resolved to erect tnis structure, as to whether the
Dominion Government would continue to make use of the hospital as at
present for the treatment of marine cases.

" Hon. Mr. McLeod said he was unable at present to give any positive
answer to the hon. member, but he would certainly put himself in com-
munication with the Government and reply to the question at an early
day.

" Hon Dr. Parker proceeded to say that he believed we would have
a very large immigration at the port of Halifax in the future — that the
Canadian Pacific was likely to deal with this question largely, and the
Allan line and other lines were bringing very large numbers to our coun-
try. If sickness occurred among these immigrants, there was no place
in Halifax where these immigrants could be sent, and he thought it prob-
able that the Dominion Government would make some provision for the
treatment of sickness among these immigrants, and they would also make
provision for the treatment of sailors, as in the other Provinces. They
had now a very good Marine Hospital at St. John, N.B., and a very large
one at Quebec. There was also another one at St. Andrews, and he
thought it altogether probable that a similar institution would be estab-
lished by the Dominion Government at Halifax. He had another remark
to make with reference to this subject, and he regretted to be obliged to
make it. The other day, the Hon. Attorney-General, in dealing with this

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 469

subject, had made a statement, the purport of which was that the mem-
bers of the medical profession sought hospital positions that they might
obtain a portion of the paltry sum derived from the Dominion Govern-
ment over and above the cost of the maintenance of the sailors. He re-
gretted very much that a person occupying the position of the Attorney-
General should have spoken as he did in reference to a matter of this
kind, and should have made a remark degrading to the medical profes-
sion— alike to the present staff and to the staff that had heretofore been
serving. He might say with positive certainty that the medical men who
had sought these positions had never been influenced by any such sum
of money as had been referred to. For many years the medical staff of
the hospital had performed their duties alike to the sailors and to the
sick residents of Halifax. They had to attend to these duties without
any remuneration whatever and they had continued to attend to them
without any reward so far as the city of Halifax and Province of Nova
Scotia was concerned. After having continued to attend to them for
some years it had been thought unjust to the profession in Halifax when
men were paid in other Provinces for the discharge of these duties, that
the medical profession in this city and Province should be called upon
to treat such cases gratuitously. He had been at the time a member of
the commission in charge of this institution, and they had called his atten-
tion to it. Subsequently it had been arranged that the medical gentle-
men should have any surplus that might be over from this service. He
thought he was authorized to say that the medical gentlemen did not
receive more than $75 each in any one year, and for that paltry sum the
Hon. Attorney-General of Nova Scotia had permitted himself to make the
statement to which he had referred. Had he been a private member of the
House he would not have felt bound to say anything about the matter, but
he was a member of the Government holding a prominent position, and
it was as derogatory to that gentleman to make such a statement as it
was degrading to the profession to which he had referred. He trusted
that men occupying such positions, when they dealt with this or any sub-
ject concerning the learned professions, would be more guarded in future.

" With reference to the proposed expenditure, he might say that
although the sum that was to be expended might strike some hon. mem-
bers as being large, he did not look upon it as a very large sum consider-
ing the purposes to which it was appropriated. The amount that would
be required was largely in consequence of the unfitness of the in-
stitution that now existed. When that building was erected it was con-
structed without consulting any medical man, although there must have
been thirty members of the medical profession in the city of Halifax at
that time. Instead of consulting any of them they had engaged an officer
of the engineer's — a clerk in the engineer's department — who had de-
signed the plans of an old country hospital in England built about a cen-
tury ago, and the consequence was that a very imperfect structure was
erected, and one which was utterly inadequate for the work for which
it was intended. When it was taken possession of by the Provincial
Government and the city conjointly to be a city and provincial hospital,
it had been found necessary to improve and enlarge it and take down a
good deal of the work that had been erected, and it was still altogether
inadequate, as the leader of the Government must know, to supply the
wants to which it was intended to minister. A large sum of money had
been expended a few years ago on the building, and he believed that in
the main it was judiciously expended, but those in charge of that matter
had fallen into a mistake which the city of Halifax had fallen into in the
first instance. They had a staff which should have been consulted, but
they never consulted them as to the changes that were to be made; and
grave and important errors were fallen into. He presumed that some
hon. gentlemen were already aware that the delirium tremens ward had
been placed on the ground underneath the earth, where no sick person
should be placed — without light or heat. There was no medical man
who would have permitted such an act to be done, and it would not have
been done if the medical staff had been consulted. The Charities Board

470 DANIEL McKEILL PAEKEK, M.D.

had taken charge of the matter, and dealt with it on their own responsi-
bility. Other things of the same character tad occurred and he alluded
to them in order that his hon. friend the leader of the Government, as
a member of the Council, would see that the present staff were consulted
in reference to any changes that were to be made in respect to this
matter. There appeared to be an idea here that in the city of Halifax
patients were longer retained than they should be. He thought there
was a great deal of truth in connection with that idea. Formerly they
had the Poor House, but latterly that had been legislated out
of the hands of the Board of Charities, and out of the hands of
the Government, and placed in the hands of the city of Halifax.
Patients had been transferred from the Poor House to the hospital, and
in that way patients got into the hospital whom it was very difficult to
get out again. It was very difficult to deal with such cases, and he
thought that in future, looking to the provincial interests, great care
would have to be taken by those who had charge of the institution, in the
admission of patients to the hospital. He had no further remarks to
make, and would simply close by expressing his concurrence in the policy
embodied in the Bill, and his hope that the structure would be erected in
accordance with some sanitary principle."

On a bill to amend the Public School law, and designed to
prevent further expansion of the educational grant:

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he did not wish to vote silently on this
question, although he had only a word to say. One of the chief objec-
tions to this measure was that it limited the expenditure for education,
and that it did so in a way that was not in accordance with the usage
of legislation. He did not know that he recollected since he had been in
this House a resolution or bill being passed providing that any definite
service should be limited in such a way that the expenditure should not
go beyond a certain sum. It struck him that it was not in accordance
with the ordinary principles of government. In his opinion the Govern-
ment of the day should deal with each service in each year as it came
before them. Now this was a very important service, and he should
like it to be dealt with in accordance with that principle on all occasions.
Our revenue was a small one to-day, but as had already been shown
and as every honorable member must feel, it was an expansive revenue.
It was not limited or likely to be limited to the sum that we were receiv-
ing in the present year. If the prosperity of this Province should go on,
if the manufacture of iron should come to be a more important industry
than at present, if the consumption of our coal should increase 50 to 100
per cent., our revenue would be increased, and it was wrong to make a
statement that we had but a limited income, and a limited one only.
There was another thing that he regretted in connection with the
matter. He believed that the increase, if passed, as he supposed it would
pass, being a government measure, would operate very prejudicially upon
the interests of education, and would lower the tone of the teaching
body. Those gentlemen engaged in this profession were obliged to
economize in order to make both ends meet, and the effect of this
measure would be in all probability to diminish their salaries and, con-
sequently, to lower their position as a body. He, therefore, felt disin-
clined to give the Government his support in passing it, although he
supposed it made very little difference to the Government. The honor-
able member for Cumberland had called attention to a number of items,
which, taken altogether, made a pretty large sum of money — sixteen or
seventeen thousand dollars per annum. These expenditures were not
likely to occur in the coming year. And there was one class of expendi-
ture to which he felt bound to call attention and against which he wished
to enter his protest. He referred to the sums of money promised for
railroads which ought never to have been granted by a Province placed
in the position of the Province of Nova Scotia. He thought it was a

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 471

wrong principle that the Government of Nova Scotia should subsidize
railways north, south, east, and west, and this was a very important
item of expenditure, and one which should not have been undertaken by
the Province. He thought it would puzzle any honorable member in
this House to point to a country with the population of Nova Scotia that
was better supplied with railways in proportion to its population and
area than the Province to which honorable gentlemen had the honor to
belong. That was an expenditure which should not be undertaken by
the Provincial Government, but should be devolved upon the Government
of the Dominion. . . ."

Session of 1888.

He had been urging upon the Government for some years, with
persistent energy, the matter of vital statistics. He now intro-
duced in the House, and supported, a resolution on the subject, of
which there is the following report :

" VITAL STATISTICS.

" Hon. Dr. Parker said that some time ago the memorial of Stephen
Selden in relation to vital statistics had been placed on the table of the
House. A similar memorial had been presented ten years ago to this
Legislature in connection with this subject. A committee at that time
had been appointed, composed of the late lamented Hon. Mr. Cochran, of
Hants. Hon. Mr. Morrison, of Colchester, and himself, to deal with the
question. The committee of that day had presented a report which gave
the history of the subject up to that period, and which would be found
in the records of the House for the year 1878. The subject of vital
statistics first attracted the attention of the country in the year 1863,
and in the following year Dr. Tupper introduced a bill which is embodied
in chaper 35 of the third series of the Revised Statutes. That act pro-
vided for the appointment of a board of statistics, composed of two
members of the Government and the financial secretary, the latter being
the head of the department. Chapter 85 of the fourth series of the
Revised Statutes dealt with the subject of the registration of births,
deaths, and marriages, this act having been passed under the supervision
of Mr. Costley, who had been connected with the department of vital
statistics for some time. The subject of vital statistics had been dealt
with by Mr. Archibald Scott, a previous official of the department, and
some time afterwards a large number of issuers of marriage licenses
were appointed, who received some small remuneration for the registry
of each birth, marriage, and death. After the passage of the B. N. A.
Act it was determined that, inasmuch as the subject of census and statis-
tics pertained to the Dominion Legislature alone, the responsibility of
conducting this department would be assumed by that Legislature alone.
In 1872 the sessions of Halifax protested that the treasury of the County
of Halifax should not be held liable to pay any of this small tax to
which the issuers of marriage licenses and registrars of births and
deaths were entitled, inasmuch as the B. N. A. Act had given exclusive
control of this subject to the Dominion Legislature. After considerable
correspondence the question came before the Supreme Court of Nova
Scotia, and a decision was finally given by the late Judge McCully in
favor of the County of Halifax, and holding that the matter was one
entirely for the Dominion Legislature. It was considered that after the
Dominion Government had taken to itself the right to appoint all the
officers of this department, and had assumed the responsibility connected
with the department and had carried it on for years, it was the duty of
that Legislature to bear all the expenses connected with the department.
The matter, therefore, ended there, so far as the County of Halifax was
concerned.

472 DANIEL McNEILL PARKEE, M.D.

" Any person who bestowed any thought upon the importance of the
subject of vital statistics would recognize how seriously important the
matter was, touching as it did questions of labor, commerce, public
health, and immigration. There was not an interest in the whole Pro-
vince of Nova Scotia that this question did not touch and affect. In
other Provinces and in all important states of the American Union a
department of vital statistics had been established. The Province of
Ontario had a well-organized system. On reference to the registration
report of Ontario for 1885 he found that the deaths in that Province
during that year from zymotic diseases were 21,565. These zymotic
diseases were what was called preventable diseases, such as typhoid
fever, scarlatina or diphtheria. The deaths from diphtheria alone during
that year in that Province were 4,793. Having a vital statistics board in
that Province, matters affecting the public health are promptly and effec-
tually dealt with, enquiry being set on foot to ascertain any existing
difference between the death rate in one locality and another, and the
causes of such difference, with a view to proper precautions being taken
and proper regulations enforced. The Province of Ontario was, on the
whole, a vary healthy Province. The death rate at Stratford was remark-
ably low, being only equal to 9, 4-10, while the highest rate in any city in
that Province was 35, 4-10, that being the rate at Ottawa.

" It would be productive of very beneficial results if our Province had
some such board of statistics. If, for instance, it became apparent under
such a system, when existing here, that the Town of Bridgewater, in the
County of Lunenburg, was, according to the statistics, furnishing as large
a proportionate death rate as the City of Ottawa, the first duty of the
Government would be to send from the central office to that district an
expert to ascertain the special causes of this high death rate in that
locality; and if, after investigation, it appeared that that high death
rate was caused by defective drainage or bad water supply, or any similar
cause, efficient remedies might be applied, with the assistance of the
local authorities. This book of vital statistics from Ontario was scat-
tered far and wide over Great Britain, and was a most efficient immi-
gration agent. Intending immigrants naturally enquire, before finally
selecting a home, as to the statistics regarding questions of health in
the different competing localities, but the Province of Nova Scotia,
until it could furnish an official annual statistical record, would be
handicapped in the competition for desirable immigrants, and the very
class of population required by the Province would be diverted by other
Provinces. Australia, New Zealand, and many other colonies of Great
Britain had a perfect system of statistics, which system had been instru-
mental in diverting immigration to these colonies. Even in the small
Island of Antigua a report of a similar description to the one published
by the Ontario authorities was issued and the circulation of that report
had been of considerable advantage to that little island. The Province
of New Brunswick was alive to its interests, and in January of the
present year had passed a bill in relation to vital statistics and dealing
specially with the three subjects of birth, marriage, and death. Without
taking up the time of the House by making any further observations, he
would now move the following resolution in connection with this ques-
tion:

" ' Whereas, In 1864 a law was enacted by the Legislature of Nova
Scotia for the registration of births, marriages, and deaths, and put into
successful operation;

" ' And whereas, By the ninety-first section of the B. N. A. Act, 1867,
it was provided that the exclusive legislative authority of the Parlia-
ment of Canada extends to " the census and statistics," and in 1868 an
act was passed by the Dominion Parliament organizing a department of
agriculture, by which act the census and the registration of statistics
were placed under this department.

" ' And whereas, At the Union of the Provinces the Dominion Gov-
ernment found an efficient system of registration of births, marriages,.

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 473

and deaths organized; and, under the authority of the B. N. A. Act, the
said Dominion Government assumed the financial responsibility ' and
patronage and the entire direction of this department in Nova Scotia, in
so far as births and deaths were concerned, for a period of ten years
(the solemnization of marriage having by the said B. N. A. Act been
referred to the Provinces), and did, in July, 1877, abruptly close the
office, pension the officers, and thus terminate the general system of
vital statistics, to the serious inconvenience of the public and to the
prejudice of the sanitary interests of the Province.

" ' Therefore resolved, That this House hereby respectfully claims,
as an act of justice from the Dominion Government, the re-establishment
of the said department for the registration of births and deaths in Nova
Scotia.'

" Hon. Mr. Fraser said that he personally was in full sympathy with
this resolution, and hoped that it would receive the unanimous support
of this House. The honorable member for Dartmouth deserved great
credit for the persistent energy which he had displayed in regard to this
question. He (Hon. Mr. F.) fully agreed with that honorable member
as to advantages — nay, the necessity — of such a system for this Pro-
vince, and he would be glad to render all the assistance he could in
bringing about the desired system.

" Hon. Mr. Goudge asked if it was proposed that the Lower House
should take concurrent action in regard to this resolution.

" Hon. Dr. Parker said that a similar resolution would be submitted
to the Lower House for its consideration at once, so that the resolutions
on this subject, when adopted, might go to Ottawa, as the joint resolution
of both branches of this Legislature.

" The resolution was then put and adopted unanimously.

" On motion of Hon. Dr. Parker, the Honorable President was
appointed a committee to transmit an address to the Lieutenant-Governor,
requesting him to forward these resolutions to the Governor-General of
Canada."

In this session a Government bill to abolish the Council was
defeated on its first reading, by a vote of eleven to eight. The
vote was not a party one. My father, with two others of the
opposition, voted with the Government.

Session of 1889.

On the Franchise Bill:

"Hon. Dr. Parker said he was not going to occupy very much time
in the discussion of this subject. A good deal of the ground that he
would otherwise have gone over had been already anticipated, and many
of the facts and points naturally arising in the discussion had been
already dealt with by those who had preceded him. The honorable
member from "Windsor had seemed to think that the Conservative party
were really a very progressive body when in opposition, but a very
unprogressive party when in power. He felt called upon to take issue
with the honorable gentleman on that statement, and he would refresh
the honorable gentleman's memory a little by referring to some of the
questions not directly connected with this subject, but having a collateral
bearing upon it. He would just refer to the subject of mines . and
minerals. The party to which the honorable member from Windsor
belonged, and had belonged all his life, had constantly been bringing that
subject before the country. They had had abundant opportunity to deal
with it, but they had never dealt with it while in control of the Govern-
ment and no practical action was taken until the late Judge Johnstone,

474 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

when he became leader of the Government, had associated with himself
Sir Adams Archibald, and gone to London to settle the matter.

" Hon. Mr. Goudge asked if Sir Adams Archibald was not then leader
of the Opposition.

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he was, but Hon. Mr. Johnstone was leader
of the Government, and had originated the measure, and selected Sir
Adams, then Mr. Archibald, to accompany him, and the admirable report
that the honorable leader of the Government had presented to-day, show-
ing a revenue from the mines and minerals of the country of over
$150,000, was the result of that mission. When those gentlemen returned
from England they presented their report; and now came the point to
which he wished to call his honorable friend's attention. A large
number of members of the Liberal party, led by the late Chief Justice
Young, had opposed that bill, and opposed it bitterly. Happily, however,
the good sense of a number of the members of that party, co-operating
with the party to which he (Dr. P.) had the honor to belong as a humble
member, succeeded in carrying the measure. This was one instance
which the allusion of the honorable member from Windsor had brought
to his mind.

" Hon. Mr. Goudge asked if Sir William (then Mr. Young) had not
opposed the settlement of the mines question, on the ground1 that it was
not sufficiently advantageous to the Province.

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he did, but there was not a man in the Pro-
vince of Nova Scotia to-day who was not satisfied with that settlement,
and the result was seen in the report placed before the House the other
day. He would like to ask who would be willing to go back to the posi-
tion taken by the leader of the Opposition of that day, and place the
mines and minerals of the Province in the position in which they were
then — in the hands of the creditors of the Duke of York. He himself
had chanced to be in London at that time, and from conversations he
had had with the leader of the Government he knew the difficulties that
had to be encountered, and that they were very great ones; but they had
been overcome, and the end had been accomplished.

" There was another subject to which he would call attention, more
closely connected with the present discussion. He referred to the ballot.
That was a measure that had been carried in the Lower House by the
assistance of his (Dr. P.'s) friends. Hon. Mr. Vail was leader of the
Government, and they had sent to this House what the House conceived
was a very poor bill, but the House did not reject the bill. They upheld
and improved it. The next year the Liberal party and Government in
the Lower House passed a bill to repeal the Ballot Act. The Liberal-
Conservative party in the House resisted that measure, and with several
members of the Liberal party associated with them, succeeded in retain-
ing the Ballot Act on the statute book. He would like to ask now who
would be willing to go back to the position of things before the Ballot
Act was passed? It had, of course, been modified and improved, but it
was to the Conservative members of this House that was due the credit
of keeping it on the statute book.

" And now came the vexed question that was immediately before the
House. The measure came from the House of Assembly, and the mem-
bers of this House were called upon to exercise their judgment upon it.
It had been before the country for a long number of years. The Legisla-
ture had much time occupied by it from time to time, and the country
had been put to no inconsiderable expense in connection with it. In
1854, under the Howe Government, a resolution had been moved, he
thought by the present Lieutenant-Governor, providing for universal suf-
frage. That measure had been adopted, and had remained on the statute
book until 1863, when it was repealed by a Liberal Government. He
might say that if he had been in the House at that time he should not
have felt the same freedom in voting for a measure of universal suffrage
as he did to-day, because he did not believe that the educational status
of the country at that time was such as to warrant the passage of such a

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 475

measure. It was the year prior to the establishment of the normal
school, and several years prior to the placing of the free school system on
the statute book of the country. To-day the country was in a very dif-
ferent position. After the existence of the educational law for twenty-
three years, he thought the Province of Nova Scotia could hardly be
considered unripe for the adoption of such a system. In looking at the
educational report he found that 105,231 children were at school during
the year. That represented 1 in 4 140 of the whole population of the
Province, the population being 400,000. Then, turning to the expenditure
in connection with this great and important matter, he found that the
Government had expended in the different departments of the educational
service, including the Deaf and Dumb Institution and the School for the
Blind, $211,000. The total expenditure, including county fund and sec-
tional funds, being $675,985. If it could be said that after twenty-three
years, with such a system as this, with such an expenditure as he had
named, and such a percentage of children attending the public schools
the country was still unripe, he feared they would have to wait a very
long time before it would be ripe. He thought the time had already come,
and if we were not yet ready to grapple with this question it was about
time that the schools were closed.

" The House had already heard the statements with reference to the
franchise existing in Prince Edward Island, in New Brunswick, and in
Newfoundland. We were in reality living in an atmosphere of universal
suffrage, and he did not for a moment entertain the idea that Nova Scotia
was going to continue much longer in the position in which she now
stood with reference to this matter. All the changes and modifications
that had been going on in recent times were in the direction of universal
suffrage. The change proposed by the bill before the House was in that
direction. With a qualification of $150 real estate, or $300 real and per-
sonal property, and an income franchise of $250 or $150, how far were
Ave removed from universal suffrage?

" Hon. Mr. Fraser — Not far.

" Hon. Dr. Parker continued. There was hardly a laborer who wielded
his pickaxe and shovel or drove a team that could not qualify under
this act. Very many mechanics made much larger sums than those
required by the bill. He believed, therefore, that it was the duty of the
Legislature not to hesitate longer to follow the example of other coun-
tries which had extended the franchise to every man of full age, with
the exception provided for in the resolution. He thought, at the same
time, there should be an educational qualification, and he had always
been ready to support it. He believed that lawyers, physicians, sur-
geons, civil engineers, graduates of universities and licensed teachers
should have the franchise. As to these classes of persons, their capital
was their education. There were very few professional men of any of
the classes he had named who had not expended a very much larger
amount than that required to qualify them under this bill. Many of
them had had thousands upon thousands expended upon them by their
parents. Franklin had said that a parent should empty his purse into
his son's brains. He was a very wise man, and no doubt looked forward
to the results to be achieved by the extension of education in his own
country.

" He would prohibit the following classes from the exercise of the
franchise: First, those unfortunate persons who were the subjects of
insanity; secondly, those who were so unfortunate as to require to
receive assistance from the public funds. Then he would exclude the
criminal classes; and, further, if he had his own way he would exclude
every young man — not the older men who had not, perhaps, had educa-
tional advantages, but every young man who could not read or write.
Then he would go further, and exclude every habitual drunkard. There
might be some difficulty in the definition of a habitual drunkard, but he
thought a definition sufficient for all practical purposes could easily be
devised."

476 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

On a bill to authorize a loan of $300,000 for provincial roads :

" Hon. Dr. Parker said there were very few members now present
who were in the House when the Holmes-Thompson Government had
proposed to borrow a large sum of money on the credit of the Province.
He had opposed that bill on the ground that the Government only
wanted $300,000 and asked for authority to borrow $800,000. It was a
principle in business and it should be a principle in govern-
ment as well not to obtain in this way any amounts beyond
the actual need. It might be argued, and it was argued not
infrequently, that a man could borrow half a million or a million to
greater advantage than he could borrow a smaller amount, but that
principle did not hold in these days. The Government of this country
could go into the market and borrow $150,000 or $300,000 on low terms
as well as they could borrow half a million, and when the amount
borrowed was in excess of immediate ne3ds, it presented a temptation to
a Government to expend it extravagantly and injudiciously, and in ways
that were not advantageous to the general interests of the country. He
thought that this was a principle that should always be applied in such
cases as the present, and that the Government should only borrow what
they need and when they need it. He would lay this down as a principle
applicable to the matter of borrowing generally, especially in these
times, when money was so abundant. The existence of a large sum of
money in the treasury, or the expectation of its being there, was apt to
stimulate the cupidity of those who had access to it, and there were now
rumors floating about this city that since this bill had passed the
House the indemnity of the members of the House was to be increased
to $500. Now, the honorable member from Cumberland had referred to
one of the most important public services of the country — that was the
expenditure in connection with the road labor, or, rather, the perform-
ance of the road labor. Ever since he had been a boy — and that was a
good many years ago — he had had an opportunity to observe the way
the statute labor was performed, and he was convinced that if the tax
was rated upon the inhabitants of the district and the money so raised
was expended judiciously under proper supervision, it would be a gain
to the road service of at least 50 per cent. Any man driving through
the country and seeing this labor performed would perceive that the
men who were performing it did not feel that they had any duty devolv-
ing upon them. Dozens and dozens of times he had seen men in
various parts of the country performing their statute labor in a way
disreputable to the district and disreputable to the overseers.
He had had an opportunity of seeing the Chinese laborer in
British Columbia some years ago. It was a rare thing for
them to see a carriage pass, but this carriage had passed along
without distracting the attention of the Chinamen from their work.
They labored on with their pickaxes and shovels, while every white
man rested his foot on his spade and looked on while the carriage was
passing. The species of morality that characterized the Chinese laborer
certainly did not extend to the men who performed the statute labor in
this country. If it did, our road service would not be in the condition
in which it was to-day. The secret of having good roads was in having
a satisfactory statute labor law; and, although year after year attention
was called to this matter in the other House, this service still remained
in an unsatisfactory condition. It was one of the things that his
learned friend, the leader of the Government in this chamiber, and the
Government that he represented here should take into consideration,
and he was sure that if it was done, the large amounts appropriated to
this service from the general treasury would not be needed."

Here we find him once more in advance of his time. The
Road Act of 1907 established, in lieu of Statute Labor, a system
such as this speech suggests.

POLITICS ASTD THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 477

Session of 1890.

In this session the Government introduced and passed in the
House of Assembly a bill for the abolition of the Legislative
Council. Upon its reaching the Council it was dealt with as
shown below :

" ABOLITION OF THE COUNCIL.

" Hon. Mr. Goudge, as chairman of the Committee on Privilege, to

whom was referred the bill to abolish the Legislative Council, presented
and read the following report:

" ' Your committee have considered the bill, and find that it directly
attacks not merely the rights and privileges, but the very existence of
the Council.

' ' The committee have searched in vain for any precedent to show
that such a bill could originate elsewhere than in this House, whose
rights, privileges, and existence are brought in question.

" ' Your committee are of opinion that, under the rules of this
Council and the principles governing parliamentary procedure, such a
bill should not originate in the House of Assembly, but should originate
in this Council.

" Your committee are of opinion that the introduction of this bill
in the House of Assembly was an invasion of the rights and privileges
of this Council.

" ' For the reasons stated, your committee beg to recommend that
the consideration of tbe bill be deferred till this day three months.'

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he rose unexpectedly to move the adoption
of this report. The rights and privileges of this House were of great
importance, and it was incumbent on it while it was a House to protect
those rights. In 1879 — some years ago — he had voted for the abolition
of this House for reasons that he had not then given to the House and
the public at length. One of the principal reasons was that it was not
an independent body; that it was a subservient body; that the Govern-
ment of the day filled the House with those who represented them, and
represented them alone, and the public interests were not subserved;
that those who were opposed to the Government were not in a position to
assist in the government of the country in accordance with the well
understood wishes of the people. The condition of things in this respect
had been altered, and that to a very large extent. Bills entrusted to
this House by the Government at that time were not permitted to be
touched. When the bill for the construction of the Yarmouth Railway
came up he (Dr. P.) had asked the then leader of the Government to
modify one of the clauses of the bill so that it would place the Govern-
ment and the treasury in such a position that no deception could be
practised, and no amounts could be withdrawn beyond that which was
contemplated by the bill. It really was understood, and the bill was
intended to specify, that when the company should contribute two-
thirds, the Government should give a subsidy of one-third; but those
who were familiar with the history of that day knew that it was so
managed for want of the precautions he had suggested, and in which his
honorable friend from Colchester concurred, that between six and seven
hundred thousand dollars had' been contributed from the treasury, when
the Province should not, according to the intention of the act, have con-
tributed more than a hundred or a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
The history of that unhappy business had been before the country for
years, but to-day he was bappy to say that the neglect of the local
Government of that day had been remedied by the Dominion Govern-
ment stepping in and completing the work, or making arrangements by
which he trusted it would eventually be completed.

478 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKER, M.D.

" At that time there was also the argument in favor of abolition
that the treasury was in a demoralized condition. The Province was in
debt three or four hundred thousand dollars, and, in his innocence, he
had presumed that the saving that would be effected would aid in bring-
ing about a better condition of the provincial finances. He had lived
long enough to learn that if this House had then been abolished nothing
would have been saved. He had heard that the statement had been
made by a very eminent authority that if this House were abolished
to-morrow, nothing would in reality be saved to the country by its
abolition. The reasons that had influenced him in 1879 did not, there-
fore, exist to the same extent to-day, and his views in the meantime had
become materially modified. When the matter came before the House
again in 1888 he had a second time voted in favor of abolition. He had
done so with great reluctance, and not without great doubt as to the
soundness of his position. He had regretted that vote once, and that
once had continued until the present time. He had then resolved that if
ever the question was again made a football for the advancement of the
political interests of one or both the political parties represented in the
Lower House it should not have the benefit of his vote. That deter-
mination had not been expressed to his two colleagues here, and he
believed that not many honorable gentlemen knew how he would vote
until the present moment. But he was determined now to undo what he
had done in this direction in the past, and one of the reasons which
disposed him to take the position he was about to take to-day in opposi-
tion to the vote that he had given on previous occasions was that the
members recently added to this House were men of more independence,
and men who could not be whipped into line by anyone. They took the
interests of the country into consideration before the interests of the
party. They did not respond to the commands of the party leaders,
but used their own individual judgment as to the bills they should
support or reject, and the particular provisions in such bills that they
should accept or reject. There had come into this House not a long
time ago, a bill for the abolition of imprisonment for debt, containing
twenty-eight clauses. It was a Government bill, but this House, or
rather a committee of this House, deliberately dismissed it, dissected
its various provisions, and amended very materially no less than twenty-
five clauses of that bill. Why so? Simply because the members of this
House were determined that they would let no bill go through the
House unless it was one that reflected their opinions and what they
conceived to be in the interests of the country. Upwards of two hundred
bills had come to this House from the Lower House; very nearly half
of them had required 'amendments, and many of the amendments were
of a very material character. If this House was to be abolished, he
would like to know who was to assume the responsibility of this work.
What machinery was to be supplied to perform the work that had in
the past been performed by this House? He could imagine tbe pos-
sibility of sending the bill passed by the House of Assembly to the
Lieutenant-Governor and giving him the assistance of one of tho ablest
men in the country connected with the bar to guide and direct him on
legal and constitutional questions arising in connection with the legisla-
tion adopted by this House. The Governor would then be to some extent
in the place of this body. But there was no such proposal. The House
had submitted to it the bare, bald proposition to sweep away the present
securities for sound and accurate legislation without any suggestions
as to what was to be put in its place. Suppose the proposition were to
be adopted, what would be the effect of it? There would go to His
Honor the Lieutenant-Governor to-day thirty-two bills before three
o'clock. They had passed two branches of tbe Legislature. Some of
those bills had given him (Dr. P.) and his friends a good deal of labor;
some of them the labor of a week, not continuously, but they had been
on his mind for that time, and on some of them the committee had

POLITICS A^D THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 479

been at work from eight o'clock in the evening until eleven or twelve
at night. Yet the head of the Legislature was expected to peruse and
make up his mind as to all these thirty-two bills before four o'clock this
afternoon. If he had a dozen of the ablest legal minds at his right hand
to help him he would not be able to do it, and could not undertake it.
This was another reason why this body should be sustained, so that the
legislative acts should have more supervision than that which was given
to them in the Lower House. It was a monstrous thing to place any
person in the position of being one party to the passage of bills and not
give him the opportunity to examine them critically.

"There were constantly coming up to this House from the Lower
House bills which bore upon their face evidence that they had not
received the attention that their importance demanded. He did not
wish for a moment to say anything against another branch of the Legis-
lature, but there was one act to which he felt justified in referring. He
had taken an interest in the bills relating to the City of Halifax for
years, and had taken an active part in connection with these bills. For
some years he had been chairman of the Committee on City Bills, and
during that period the Lower House would permit almost any bill to
pass through without giving it the supervision, care, and criticism that
it required, or such criticism as a legislative body ought to feel bound
to give to measures which they passed. He held in his hand a volume
which had been presented as a bill last year to the House of Assembly
professing to be a consolidation of the acts relating to the City of Hali-
fax. This book contained 220 pages, and consisted of 777 clauses. The
House of Assembly had sent this bill to this chamber last year, and he
did not think it had ever been examined by any committee of the House.
It could not have been examined, because if it had been examined by
responsible men in the other chamber it would never have passed. It
had come to this House with amendments on scraps of paper and with
a piece of elastic around it, and in that form had been presented to
this House to be dealt with just on the eve of the close of the Legislature.
The House had been expected to deal with that matter of the consolida-
tion of the acts relating to the City of Halifax ever since the incorooration
of the city. They had been expected to accomplish this work in three
or four days, but had declined the honor.

" No doubt it was flattering to this House that the lower branch
should place such confidence in it, on the eve of its abolition, as to expect
it to assume such a heavy responsibility at so short a notice, but the
members of this House felt obliged to decline that responsibility. It was
important that the bill should pass in a correct shape, but last year
this House had been obliged to say that in the shape in which it was
presented it should not pass. They had dealt with the bill, therefore, as
he hoped this bill would be dealt with. They gave it the three months'
hoist. It had come up again this year, and the House had every disposi-
tion to deal with it fairly. They had given it two weeks or more of
careful consideration, but had been obliged to come to the conclusion
that, however much they would like to consolidate the acts of the city,
it was impossible for them to pass such a bill, and it was accordingly
deferred. He referred to this incident as furnishing one reason why
there should be some such body as the Legislative Council, or some other
body, at all events, if the Legislative Council were abolished, to take its
place with regard to the supervision of measures presented from the
Lower House. There had also come to the chamber last year bills from
the city asking for power to borrow $952,000. Such a measure had gone
to the House of Assembly and been criticized there, and had passed, he
believed, unamended in the main. This House had dealt generously
with the city in that matter, and had given them what was requisite;
but they had provided that only so much per annum should be expended,
and that the several branches of the service should be subdivided, so that
the money given for one service should not, as heretofore, be expended

480 DANIEL McNEILL pakkek, m.d.

for others. He had occupied, in referring to these matters, a longer time
than he should, as he was aware that the time of the House was very
valuable, and that we would soon hear the band of music announcing
the arrival of His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor. If he had the time
at his disposal he would have referred to his own record in connection
with this matter before dealing with the general merits of the question;
but he felt that it was not necessary to do so, and he would now move
the adoption of the report."

The report was adopted by a vote of thirteen to four, eight
supporters of the Government voting with the majority.

Session of 1892.

On the bill to establish legacy and succession duties :

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he thought the Government should be in a
position to place before the House the comparative scale of percentage
In other countries and in this, so as to show what amounts were taken
for legacy duties in England, in Ontario, in New Brunswick, and in
other places. It struck him that the percentage provided for in this bill
was larger than it should be. He presumed that the honorable leader of
the Government had all these facts under his hand, and he would like to
know what the figures were in other countries, and the percentage that
corresponded with the 2y2 per cent., the 5 per cent., and the 10 per cent,
provided for by this act.

" In relation to the preamble of the bill, the question had also sug-
gested itself to his mind whether the accounts were to be kept separate
of the monies received under the operation of this bill, and the revenues
were to be appropriated for educational and charitable purposes, and for
the support of the institutions mentioned in the preamble, or whether
the amount yielded by this law was to go into the general funds, and
these institutions were to be provided for hereafter out of the general
fund as they had been heretofore. He thought it probable that the effect
of the measure upon those who had been charitably disposed, a large
number of whom had contributed most generously and liberally to our
public charities, would be that the amount of such contributions in th?
future would1 be very greatly reduced. The effect of the bill might be in
this way to do injury rather than to confer benefit upon those charities
which it was its professed object to promote. The men who would other-
wise be disposed to contribute to the support of these charities would
consider that the Government had undertaken to provide for them under
the provisions of this bill by the means which the bill pointed out, and
they would be more disposed in the future to distribute their money
among their families. In this way charitable institutions might suffer
unless something very distinct and positive was inserted in the bill by
the Government. He thought that it would perhaps advance the interests
of the offspring of those men who were possessed of wealth. He took it
for granted that there would be a more general provision made for chil-
dren in earlier life by those who had wealth than was the usual practice
now; that they would not wait until about the time that they were dying
to make a distribution of their estates, but there would probably be a
division while they were yet living, and the offspring would enjoy the
wealth of their parents in their earlier days. This might, perhaps, be a
happy event. A great many men carried their wealth with them until
they left this world, and possibly as good use was not made of the
money as if it had been bestowed' upon their children in earlier years.
So far, therefore, as the offspring were concerned the measure would
probably have a good effect. But he was very strongly impressed with
the conviction that the measure would have an injurious effect upon the

POLITICS AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 481

charities of the land, unless there should be a positive statement provid-
ing that a separate account should be kept, and that every dollar of the
money derived from this source should be appropriated to the special
object for which it was ostensibly taken. Placed in a general account
it would drift this way and that, and the very object for which it was
now about to be taken would be frustrated by the operation of the bill.
He would not occupy the attention of the House at greater length. The
subject was one with which he was not familiar, as he had not studied it.
He knew something about taxation in Great Britain, for he had resided
there, although he did not die there. But very shortly after he was there
he found that taxes were levied upon him which opened his eyes to some
extent to the burdens borne by those who resided in that country."

Session of 1894.

It was in this session that the Government began its question-
able procedure to abolish the Legislative Council by filling vacant
seats with members pledged beforehand to vote for abolition. My
father at once challenged this as unconstitutional and a breach of
the privileges of the House; he sharply pressed his attack, and
forced the Government leader in the Council, Mr. Murray, step by
step through a defence of evasion and subterfuge, to bring down
the correspondence which had passed between the Government and
these new members prior to their appointment. A resolution was
then passed for " securing the opinion of counsel upon the ques-
tion of the constitutionality of the pledges exacted from members
of the House, and that the opinion so secured be referred to the
Committee on Privileges." An opinion accordingly was obtained
from Mr. B. Russell (now Mr. Justice Russell) and Mr. R. L.
Borden, which amply justified my father's contention. The Com-
mittee on Privileges reported to the same effect, and my father
moved the adoption of the report, which carried, the Government
leader and some pledged members only voting to the contrary.

Pending the report of the Committee on Privileges, the Govern-
ment leader had hastily introduced a bill for Abolition, and after
the committee's report he moved the first reading of this bill,
which motion was allowed to pass. On the motion to refer the
bill to the Select Committee on Bills my father moved in amend-
ment the " three months' hoist," which carried, substantially on
the same vote as the last, after considerable debate. Subsequently
the Council adopted a resolution for an address to Her Majesty
the Queen " setting forth the views of this House upon the pro-
posed change in our constitution and the manner in which it is
sought to be accomplished, and also an address to His Honor the
Lieutenant-Governor to forward the same."

In the debate on this resolution, Mr. M. H. Goudge, of Wind-
sor, a supporter of the Government, closed his speech in the follow-
ing terms :

" The honorable member from Dartmouth, with his mature years
and great experience, had felt impelled to accede to his judgment, and
31

482 DANIEL McNEILL PARKEE, M.D.

vote against the bill tor the abolition of the Council "When, therefore,
I find an honorable gentleman of the character, experience, and knowl-
edge of the honorable member from Dartmouth coming to this conclu-
sion, I think it should not be thrown in the face of honorable members
who, some years ago, might have expressed a desire for abolition, that
they are doing anything dishonorable when they insist on the right to
vote against abolition under the changed circumstances of the country
and in the position in which they find themselves placed. . . ."

Following this reference to himself, my father spoke thus :

" Hon. Dr. Parker said that, as his name had been referred to, he
considered it to be his duty to offer some explanation in connection with
his action upon this question in former years. In the debates that took
place on this subject in 1879 and' in subsequent years his reasons were
given for the course that he had then taken. When he came into the
House he found here a body of gentlemen who did not act independently,
but were the servants of the Government. He could not move an
amendment in connection with any Government bill with any chance
whatever of its being even seconded by any person connected with the
Government. He had submitted to the great Injustice to the Province
of seeing bills carried which were prejudicial to the interests of the
country, and which no member of the party to which he belonged would
be permitted to modify even in a single word. The gentleman who then
led the Council, and who had long since departed this life, had stated
to him when he — and more than he — had asked that amendments should
be received which would be in the financial interests of the country,
more especially one in connection with a measure having relation to the
Yarmouth Railway, that such amendments could not be entertained. In
that case, as every gentleman around these benches well knew, the whole
amount of the Government subsidy had been taken out of the treasury
and expended, and yet the road had not been completed. A great gap
had been left, which had remained uncompleted until a short time ago.
Now, if the simple amendment which he had suggested, and which his
friends wished to carry, had been accepted by the leader of the Govern-
ment, the country would have been saved the large amount required to
complete that gap, because instead of paying out one-third of the cost of
the road, they had paid out two-thirds, until the whole subsidy had been
exhausted- It had appeared to him then to be a serious matter, and it
had been a serious matter. This was one of the principal things that
had1 prompted him to say that this Council, obedient as it was to the
leader of the Government, should be abolished. He had said to himself
if this was the treatment that independent men, on practical financial
matters, were to receive in this House, if he was not permitted to open
his mouth or to carry any measure for the benefit of the country, he
would vote for abolition. They had been subservient to the Government
in every particular, and had followed them, to use an expression uttered
by the honorable member from Queens the other day — an expression
which he regretted having heard coming from that honorable gentleman
—like a spaniel; and that being the case, he felt that it was proper
that they should be abolished. At the same time he felt (at that time)
that snch a body, otherwise disposed, and animated by a different spirit,
was essential to the well-being of the Province, and that it was an essen-
tial part of the Legislature of the country. The time had at length
come when the members of the House were more independent. They
had a mind to think and act for themselves, and when Government
measures came before them they had been willing that they should be
amended; and if the Hon. Mr. Creelman or himself proposed some
amendment which was in the interests of the country, there had been an
opportunity of carrying them. Under these circumstances he felt that
he had gone far enough; and he had, under the changed circumstances
of the case, adopted a different line of action from that which he had

POLITICS &NT> THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 483

formerly taken, and had opposed the bill for the abolition of the Council
simply because that body was being conducted on principles that
accorded with his views as to the duty of an independent chamber.
They did not yield obediently to the orders of the Government, but acted
independently on their own sense of what was required in the interests
of the country. He desired to offer just this word of explanation, in
order to make clear what his position had formerly been and why he had
seen fit to change."

The address to the Crown on this occasion was prepared by a
committee of three, of whom my father was one.

Session of 1899.

On a memorial of the Yarmouth Agricultural Society for a
yearly grant to district exhibitions :

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he was strongly impressed with the fact, that
it would be in the interests of the agricultural districts of Nova Scotia to
adopt the ideas presented to the House in the memorial submitted to-day.
He was very confident that the central exhibition, annually repeated in
Halifax, would ultimately prove a failure, and involve a large loss in ex-
penditure, which would come from the public chest. We could not have a
distinctively agricultural exhibition in Halifax. If an exhibition were held
here every two or three years, all our resources could be displayed to
advantage. The minerals of our country might have been more extensively
exhibited than they have yet been. The exhibition of animals here had not
yet been what it should have been, but there was reason to believe that, if
repeated, we would have exhibitions superior to what we had already seen.
Then this was a fishing country, and we had not heretofore had any great
exhibition of that part of our resources. We could have here the finest
fisheries exhibit possible in a British possession, and he hoped that, in the
next provincial exhibition, whether it came sooner or later, that matter
would be attended to. He believed that would have as good an effect in
advertising our country, as any department of the exhibition, next to the
proper display of our mineral resources.

"What had attracted people to these exhibitions was not the display of
the resources of the country, but those outside shows, the man who climbed
up eighty feet and then tumbled down into a tank of water. And he
thought the Government of the country should be censured, if not punished,
for allowing such a performance. Suppose an accident happened, the
Government of the country would be held responsible for it. Things like
that were outside the scope of an exhibition. We wanted to show the world
what we possessed, not to show people a man going up into the air and
tumbling down into the water. As for military displays, people could see
them here on many public occasions — of course not such displays as the
mimic taking of Sebastopol, but imposing military displays. And yet he
had heard that $1,000 or $1,200 had been expended on those military ex-
hibits. He quite concurred in the suggestion that we should have a central
exhibition once every two or three years — he thought, in the interests of
the Province, every third year — and then let the East and West hold theirs
in the intervening years. He quite concurred in what had been said by
those gentlemen approaching this House by memorial, that they had been
unfairly dealt with, and that the Government of the country should place
them in a position to get out of the difficulties now surrounding them. He
did not think he was alone in this province when he said that one pro-
vincial exhibition every two or three years — he would say three — would be
in the interests of the country. (Hear, hear.) He moved that the
memorial be referred to a special committee to examine, take evidence and
report to this House. This was in accordance with the practice in the
House, when important petitions were presented."

484 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKER, M.D.

The debasing of the central exhibition at Halifax into a circus,
vaudeville and horse-racing show, with an unrepresentative and
inadequate exhibition of the country's resources attached, he was
wont to regard with contempt and indignation.

By his intervention at this session he procured an amendment
to the Succession Duties Act by which charitable bequests were
thereafter exempted from duties.

Session of 1900.

On a motion to adjourn, moved by Mr. Pipes, then the Govern-
ment leader in the Council, in order to refer to the gallantry and
success of the Nova Scotia troops upon the occasion of General
Cronje's surrender in the South African War:

" Hon. Dr. Parker said: I have been for over thirty years connected with
the Legislature of Nova Scotia — sitting in this House. At no one time in
that long period, or in my life, would I have liked so much to speak here
in connection with a subject so important as that brought to our attention
by the hon. leader of the Government in this House. I am physically un-
able to speak now, but this I must say: My sympathies go out to those
young men who have left our country to fight the battles of our Empire, to
fight for us who remain, to uphold the honor of the flag of our great and
good country, Great Britain. .Those men are contending for a principle;
tbey represent principles that we who remain behind hold dear. Day by
day I have watched with great care for the tidings of those who belong to
my own country, those who represent us who are here in this House. The
men who have given their lives are not known to me. I did not know
Wood or Hensley, but I knew their parents, and I knew the style of men
they were. They have died fighting for Queen and country, and have left
behind them a reputation that will long live and will be handed down to
generations to come. This war is going to have an effect upon the colonies,
upon Great Britain, upon the Empire, that no one living previously dreamed
of. It is going to place the Empire on a footing which nothing else could
have done. It has made the nations around look at the Empire, not with
pride, but with timidity and fear. It is going to establish in that vast
dark country civilization and Christianity, withheld by those who have here-
tofore ruled the country. It is going to bring the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ to those who have heretofore been treated as less than human, but
who yet have souls to be saved. While the sacrifice of human life, the
spilling of human blood, makes one shrink, still the day will come when
there will be gratitude expressed in every British community, for the re-
sults which will follow in the long years to come from this war. I suppose
the object of my hon. friend, the leader of the Government, in this House, is
to send a word of sympathy to those young men who represent us and who
are fighting the battles of our country. I trust that a sympathetic message
will go forth from this House, and also an expression of our thankfulness
to God that He has upheld them in difficult and dangerous surroundings.
That sympathy I have, and I feel assured that every hon. member around
these benches will extend that sympathy to these brave young men, and let
them know that we follow their every step, that we have them before us by
night and by day, and that when they return to us, as we hope a large
number of them will, we will extend our hands to them in welcome, with
great gratitude to them for the efforts they have put forth for us and for
the Empire to which we belong. (Hear, hear.)"

That these remarks were uttered with deep emotion seems
evident from this allusion by the speaker who followed :

POLITICS XNB THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 485

" Hon. Mr. Drumniond said: The hon. gentleman from Dartmouth has
exemplified the saying, out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh;
while the fullness of the heart has almost choked the utterance. . . ."

On the following day my father seconded a resolution of Mr.
Pipes for a committee to draft congratulatory telegrams to the
Queen, and to Colonel Otter commanding the Canadian troops:

" Hon. Dr. Parker said he rose with a great deal of pleasure to second
the resolution that had just been submitted. It was not necessary that he
should express hiself at any great length. But this he would say, that no
public act of his life had given him greater pleasure than the act of rising
here to second a resolution of that kind, to go forward to the Queen of our
country and the man who has done honour to us, while engaged in protect-
ing the interests of the Empire. (Cheers.)

"The motion was then put and carried unanimously.

"The members of the Legislative Council thereupon (the doors of the
Chamber being thrown open) sang the National Anthem and 'Rule
Britannia,' with cheers for the Queen, Colonel Otter and the Canadian Con-
tingent, and for H company, enlisted in Nova Scotia."

The foregoing quotations from the proceedings of this session
contain the last utterances of my father in the Legislative Council.

While these quotations aptly illustrate what is said hereafter
of his ardently patriotic spirit, a peculiar and pathetic interest
attaches to the circumstance that the last sentence uttered by him
within the historic chamber of the Council spoke of " Queen "
and " Empire " — and that his last word was " Empire."

Reference has been made in this chapter to several instances
wherein my father showed that as a legislator he entertained opin-
ions and projects which were in advance of legislative and public
sentiment, but which have since been adopted and brought into
effect. Two other instances of the same kind occurred as early
as the session of 1876. The first of these additional examples of
proposed advanced legislation was realized ten years afterwards.
The other — the suggestion of a college of agriculture — was not
carried into being by the Legislature until the year 1899.

A proposed amendment to the Liquor License Act subjected the
keepers of places where liquors were sold to an action at the
instance of those who suffered loss in person and property at the
hands of individuals to whom liquor had been sold in such places
and such loss was due to the sale. The Legislative Council
exempted the city of Halifax from the operation of this amend-
ment.

" Hon. Dr. Parker did not see why Halifax should seek exemption from
a principle which had been found to be beneficial, any more than any other
part of the Province. The facilities for obtaining drink were so numerous
nowhere else, and there was no place where the application of the bill was
more needed. He would be sorry to have the bill interfered with in any
way. He thought it was a sound principle to make parties responsible for
the results of the liquor which they sold, and that it would be attended with
as good results here as elsewhere. He knew the bill would be unpopular in
Halifax, but the only question for the House to consider was whether it

486 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

was right or not. It was even more important to have a stringent liquor
law in the city than it was in the country. He was in a position to speak
practically, and could say that a large amount of the sickness and death
in the city was attributable solely to the extent to which the use of intoxi-
cating drink was indulged in. If the bill was passed, a man who sold liquor
would feel his responsibility and govern himself accordingly. Now a man
might be as drunk as Bacchus and yet go into a saloon and drink until he
could not take care of himself, and then be hustled into the street. He
wanted to make people who took advantage of persons in this condition
responsible for their actions. The public papers within the past year had
given the particulars of a case where a man had died under such circum-
stances. This bill would give the widow of anyone suffering a similar fate
an action against the person who had sold the liquor."

On the Bill for Supply:

" Hon. Dr. Parker said that last year upwards of $17,000 had been
expended on agriculture. He thought it would be for the material interest
of the Province, and would elevate what is now looked upon only as a
manual occupation to the dignity of a profession, if a portion of this sum
were expended in such a way as to enable farmers to obtain the necessary
knowledge for conducting their business on scientific principles. Large
numbers of the American Colleges had Chairs of Agriculture connected
with them, and at the University of Toronto they had a Professor of Agri-
culture at a salary of $600. There was a similar Professorship at the
University of Edinburgh. As an instance of what could be done by
scientific farming he had been struck by the mention made in a late
number of the Scotsman of a tenant farmer who had accumulated the sum
of £50,000 stg. within a limited number of years in this way. Some years
ago the sum of $8,000 had been voted for the purpose of establishing a
model farm. A large portion of the money was still unexpended, and if it
was applied to the purpose for which it was given, and a Professor of
Agriculture appointed in connection with the farm, the Agricultural
Societies might accomplish more than they were doing at present, though
he did not wish to depreciate their services."

Previous to 1895, for some years he had been desirous of
resigning his seat, on account of increasing bodily infirmity and
because changed conditions in the Council which had come about
were making his duties in the House uncongenial and even irksome
to him.

On January 31st, 1895, he placed his resignation in the hands
of the Provincial Secretary (Mr. Fielding) for presentation to the
Lieutenant-Governor, Honorable M. B. Daly. On an envelope
enclosing the originals of the letters to these gentlemen on this
occasion I find endorsed, in my father's handwriting : " The
resignation was withdrawn before its presentation to the Lieut-
Governor, in consequence of a deputation from the Legislative
Council (headed by President Boak and others of both sides in
politics) having waited on me, and requested me urgently to with-
draw it." The Provincial Secretary, the leader of the Govern-
ment, accompanied this deputation.

In February, 1901, notwithstanding similar opposition, he
finally resigned his seat.

It was when the Legislature met a few weeks later that he

POLITICS AXD THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 487

became the subject of the eulogy by his late colleagues, already
referred to, and from which a few specimens are quoted in my
earlier narrative.

At this time the Morning Chronicle said editorially:
" Retirement of Hon. De. Parker.

" Hon. Dr. Parker has resigned his office as a member of the Legis-
lative Council of the Province. The reason given for this action on his
part is the failure of strength, owing to his advancing age, to discharge the
duties as he believes they should be discharged. Dr. Parker feels that the
office should be filled by a man in the vigor of health and life. It is not
often this view is taken by incumbents of public office. It is generally said
that inasmuch as the appointment is for life, the assumption is that a man
gives, during his active years, enough service to compensate for any in-
firmity of later years. Dr. Parker, however, in harmony with his well
known character, will not allow the public business to suffer for his own
advantage, and therefore retires from the Council. This action honors
Dr. Parker and the Council itself, on account of the nobility of the motive.

"We, however, regret the necessity of the course pursued, and have
doubts as to the wisdom of it. For Dr. Parker's ability and experience
have been so marked that he could, we should suppose, with little expendi-
ture of energy, add materially to the strength of the Council. In addition
to this consideration we note that Dr. Parker's retirement leaves only two
Conservative members in the Upper Chamber. This is to be regretted in
the interests of good government. We should be sorry even if the con-
ditions were reversed — if there were only two Liberals and all the rest
were Conservative. Of course, the present state of parties makes the
inequality far worse.

"However opinions may differ on this point, there will, we believe, be
no difference of opinion on the generous expressions of members of the
Council concerning Dr. Parker, on the occasion of the introduction of his
successor. Hon. Mr. Owen (Conservative), and Hon. Mr. G-oudge, Hon. Mr.
Pipes, Hon. Mt. Mack, and Hon. Mr Armstrong (Liberals), spoke in
highest terms of appreciation of Dr Parker's services to the public as an
eminent physician and as a member of the Legislature. It is pleasing to
note that the words of the Liberals were at least as strong as those of the
Conservative member. This is creditable to the Liberal leaders and to our
public life."

In a more general editorial on the personnel of the Council the
Acadian Recorder of February 14th remarked:

" Hon. Dr. Parker has seen longer service than any present member of
the Council, his appointment being dated the 28th of June, 1867. Dr.
Parker is one of the three members who might be classed as opposition
members. His influence is not confined, however, to the narrow limits of
his own party, but he enjoys the esteem of every member of the Council,
and his wisdom and judgment in the questions that arise in the course of
the sessions are given great weight and deference. Affiliated with one
party, he is endeared to both alike, and enjoys the distinction of being
consulted alike by friend and foe, speaking politically

" [Since the above was written it has been informally given out that
Dr. Parker, by sending in his resignation to the Lieutenant-Governor, has
formally severed his connection with the Legislative Council. Dr. Parker
will be much missed, as he has always been prompt in his attendance and
assiduous in his duties ever since his appointment to that body at Con
federation.]"

488 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

From the Messenger and Visitor (St. John) of February 27th
and March 20th, 1901 :

"After some thirty-four years of service, Hon. Dr. Parker, of Halifax,
has resigned his membership in the Legislative Council of his native
Province. The faithfulness and ability of the service thus rendered will
be gratefully recognized both by those who have agreed with Dr. Parker
and those who have differed with him on leading questions of public policy,
and all must regret that the infirmities which come with advancing years
make it necessary for him now to lay aside duties which he has so long dis-
charged with much advantage to the public welfare. In noting Dr. Parker's
retirement, the Presbyterian Witness says: 'The duties of the position he
discharged with conscientious fidelity. No one ever accused Dr. Parker of
being party to a crooked or unworthy action. In the Legislature, as in
private life, he conducted himself as a gentleman and a Christian ought
to do. ... No man has served the public more faithfully than he has
done, or given his time and means and mature counsel more cheerfully to
the advancement of benevolent and charitable and religious institutions.'
These are words which will be generally recognized as true and just.
To his own church and denomination Dr. Parker has been wholly loyal in
heart and eminently constant in service. Many who read these lines will
recall the large debt of gratitude which they owe to him personally, and
all will earnestly unite with us in the hope that, after the day of arduous
toil, our honored brother may find life's evening full of peace, and bright
with the assurance of that joy beyond, into which the Lord will welcome
every faithful servant."

"Since our reference, a few weeks ago, to the Hon. Dr. Parker's retire-
ment from public life, the subject has come formally before the Legislative
Council of Nova Scotia, and has called forth remarks of a highly — and
doubtless a most sincerely — appreciative character from a number of
honorable gentlemen who have esteemed it an honor to be associated with
Dr. Parker for a longer or a shorter period in the Legislature of the
Province. . . . We know well that the reward which Dr.
Parker has sought is not that of public eulogy. His motives for
service have ever been deeper and more Christian than the desire
for praise. At the same time it cannot but be pleasing to him to
know that his efforts to serve the public weal are so generously recognized
by the men who have wrought with him, and still more so to know that
the sentiments which these honorable gentlemen have eloquently expressed
find a hearty affirmative response in the hearts of men of both political
parties all over the Province."

Even as the years of professional service were characterized
by a journalist, competent to judge, as " fifty faithful years," it
seems equally appropriate to say now, in closing the present chap-
ter, that the period of public service rendered to his country in
the Legislature constituted likewise thirty-four faithful years ;
for all the record of them shows not only that he had the highest
of all qualities in a legislator — a sense of public duty — but that
justly and conscientiously always this duty was discharged.

It remains to be added that at various times it was open to
him to accept high political preferment ; but his sense of pro-
fessional duty and a very decided taste for a more private life led
him uniformly to decline any such change of station.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE DECLINING YEARS.

" O blest retirement, friend to life's decline,
Retreats from care, that never must be mine;
How happy he who crowns, in shades like these,
A youth of labor with an age of ease;

" But on he moves to meet his latter end,
Angels around befriending virtue's friend;
Bends to the grave with unperceived decay,
While resignation gently slopes the way;
And all his prospects brightening to the last,
His heaven commences ere the world be past."

— Goldsmith.

We resume now the chronicle of the years which followed the
termination of my father's professional career, on August 1st,
1895.

For some years afterwards his activity in other and various
directions continued unabated. His devotion to philanthropic
work and to the affairs of his church suffered no relaxation.
Several important private trusteeships, which a few years before
had devolved upon him, afforded employment for his business
abilities and occupied much of his time. His general business
concerns and his correspondence of a private nature received more
attention now that he had achieved his release from professional
employment, and during the winter months his legislative duties
still afforded him occupation. He found more time for general
reading, and for professional reading as well ; for though he had
voluntarily " shelved " himself as a practitioner, his profound
interest in everything which concerned his profession was not
affected, and by the perusal of the latest books and the current
periodical literature in medicine and surgery he was still asborb-
ing knowledge and keeping himself informed about all that was
coming in and going on in the professional world.

So employed, he was able gradually to accommodate himself
to the radically changed conditions of life upon which he had now
entered.

He sought more of the out-door life, and discovered increasing
pleasure in walking and driving for relaxation only. In inclement
weather, at all seasons, he took his regular exercise in walking on
the long verandah at " Beechwood," which he measured, that he
might know the number of turns to the mile. He never chafed

489

490 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

under the enforced restraints which age and diminished bodily
strength had imposed upon him, nor expressed regret or disap-
pointment concerning his retirement from practice. In referring
to it he would say, jocularly, that he had still his family, rein-
forced by the infantry division of grandchildren, to practise upon,
and these would keep him well employed professionally, though
he feared the practice would not prove lucrative. With his cus-
tomary unfailing cheerfulness of disposition, he philosophically
accepted the changed lot, and trod with even step the final stages
of life's journey. There were many seasons of illness, weakness
and pain — fortunately not of long duration — but these he endured
with calmness and fortitude of mind.

The difficulties with the " old patients " experienced in 1873,
when general practice was relinquished, recurred now with the
termination of all practice whatever. To satisfy insistent impor-
tunity which was encountered from time to time, occasional lapses
into advising and prescribing had to be made. Some of these
unfortunates would declare that they would " never give him up
while he was alive." There is an extreme instance of an elderly
woman who to this day keeps " the old doctor's " prescriptions on
hand for use and a photograph of him always in view ; " for,"
she says, " the new doctors can't understand my case, and a look
at his face on the mantel generally makes me well when I feel
poorly. If I am very sick I get his medicines made up again, and
they cure me."

During the summer of 1895 my father collaborated with Dr.
Albert S. Ashmead, of New York, formerly Foreign Medical
Director of the Tokyo Hospital, Japan, in the preparation of a
paper entitled, " The Introduction of Leprosy into Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick. Mic-Macs Immune." This was published
in the Journal of the American Medical Association for February
1st, 1906. A great deal of historical research and local investiga-
tion was involved in its preparation, and the article is a valuable
one ; but as Dr. Ashmead bore the principal part in its production
it is not presented here. My father's contribution to this work is
marked by his wonted thoroughness and precision of statement.

The year 1895 was closed by a visit to Toronto, where I was
invalided. He and my mother spent the Christmas and New Year
holiday season with me there. He was then comparatively well
and pursued with zest his reading, writing, and his out-door exer-
cise. The last time he had been in Toronto was in June, 1891.
In 1883 he was there to attend meetings of the Senate of Toronto
Baptist College, of which he was a member. On that occasion,
with my sister Fanny, he visited friends in St. Catharines and
for the last time saw Niagara and its environment.

In April, 1896, I was seriously ill in New York, after return-

THE DECLINING YEARS 491

ing there from Hot Springs, Virginia, and my parents were sum-
moned by attending physicians. They remained in New York
about a month, during which time my father himself was having
special medical treatment, and they afterwards followed me to
Toronto, where I went in May to facilitate my recovery, and where
they remained with me for several weeks. I can never forget the
tender care and solicitude of my father throughout this trying-
period, when his very presence was a benediction of healing power,
by far outweighing all that such a physician as Allan McLean
Hamilton or other eminent men with him in New York could
accomplish for me in a very painful and critical illness. He had
nothing to learn from such physicians ; and, as on other occasions,
to me personally and to many others, at this time of apparent
physical extremity he seemed endowed with an extraordinary
power in his ministry of healing — not only for the worn and pain-
racked body, but also for the tired, drooping spirit of the patient.

During the summer of this year he spent some time with me
in Berwick, in the Annapolis Valley. During these later years
he enjoyed frequent summer sojourns in the country, at Wolfville
and elsewhere. At such retired spots much of the time would be
spent in delightful drives and in living out amid the bloom and
fruitage of the orchards.

In the spring of 1897 he and my mother joined me in Lake-
wood, New Jersey, a delightful winter and spring resort. At thi,s
time he seemed to regain a fair measure of his old-time vigor. He
could indulge in long walks and drives, and he found pleasure in
boating upon Lake Carasaljo. By its beautiful shores, under the
wide-spread pines which fringe its waters, he would sit for hours
at a time with his books and papers, engaging much in conversa-
tion, which was always entertaining and profitable when he led it,
thoroughly interested in all that was going on about him, and,
with no restlessness, acquiring at last the art of resting.

After the demands of practice had ceased in 1895, it was
noticeable that the old habit of abbreviating vacation outings, due
to an overpowering impulse to resume work, gradually passed
away. Not that he could learn the art of idling when he was
away from home; for professional, historical, biographical, and
other reading of a substantial character, to which he would give
much time, together with business and professional correspond-
ence, afforded him so much employment during occasions of travel
and change of abode as to make his mode of life appear rather
laborious. His busy mind, in these years of retirement, must
needs satisfy itself with such occupations, which, though seemingly
onerous at times to others, afforded him the restful relaxation to
be found by active intellects in changing work. It was not in him
to " rust out," and by no means was he worn out.

492 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

On July 6th, 1898, the Maritime Medical Association met in
Halifax, and he attended its meetings, at which there was no more
attentive and interested auditor of the proceedings. A report of
the opening session says : " The President, Dr. D. A. Campbell,
invited to the platform Dr. William Bayard, of St. John, Hon. Dr.
Parker, of Halifax, and Dr. J. W. Daniel, of St. John — past
Presidents of the Association."

On the 22nd of July, 1898, his only sister, Mary Sophia, died
at Hampton, New Brunswick, where she had been living for some
years with her daughter, Hattie Warneford. He went to Hamp-
ton the next day, attended the funeral, and with his brother Frank
remained there several days. This bereavement, which left the
two brothers the only survivors of the family, weighed heavily upon
my father's spirit. I was with him then, as I had been in 1882,
when at the family burial-place at Walton he laid the body of his
father in the tomb where reposed the dust of his mother, who had
died in 1866. On both these occasions his mind overflowed with
memories of his early life with his beloved dead; reminiscences
long hidden, but now evoked from memory by that stimulus which
death supplies, and told to me.

In the address presented on August 1st, 1895, grateful refer-
ence is made to his safeguarding the interests of the profession in
the Legislature. Another such reference occurs in a report of the
proceedings of a meeting of the Branch British Medical Associa-
tion in December, 1900, when, upon mention of the practice of
publishers sending to physicians certain medical journals which
were not ordered and afterward rendering bills for them : " the
President stated that Hon. Dr. Parker had had a law passed in
this Province which would not necessitate paying for a journal
when not ordered."

The closing months of the century marked the time of his
latest travel beyond the limits of the Province. To consult Dr.
Bangs, of New York, and undergo a course of medical treatment
by this specialist, he went to that city in September, 1900, tak-
ing with him my mother and my sister Eanny, and there remained
about a month. On the homeAvard journey, in consequence of
extensive damage to the railway caused by flooding streams in
New Brunswick, the party had to go around by rail to Freder-
icton, and thence by boat down the St. John River to St. John.
Though not in good health, he stood the lengthened journey well.
He arrived home to find that his house had been invaded by
burglars a few nights before — his only experience of the kind;
but beyond the taking of a box containing valuable documents
and books of account, the loss was not serious.

Early in 1901 a commission of physicians, appointed by Gov-
ernment was engaged in determining the location of the Pro-

THE DECLINING YEARS 493

vincial Sanatorium for Consumptives, and other questions con-
nected with that institution. My father, though not of the
commission, was consulted by the Government on these questions,
and advised upon them. He did not concur with the majority
of the commission on the location of the sanatorium recommended
by them, and he further dissented from their opinion that a
resident physician in charge was not necessary.

Earlier in his career, at the request of Government, he had
closely investigated the matter of a location for a quarantine
station and smallpox hospital for the port of Halifax, and in an
exhaustive report (a copy of which he preserved), he recom-
mended the site at Lawlor's Island, which was subsequently
adopted.

Upon smallpox he was an authority, having had much experi-
ence with it in the earlier years of his practice, when, in a more
virulent form than is now common, it was a frequent importa-
tion by shipping at the port of Halifax. Not long after he began
practice there was a very threatening epidemic of the disease
in the city, and he was called upon to assume the charge of
numerous cases. No hospital was available, but he showed his
resourcefulness by obtaining from one of his patients, the late
Enos Collins, an old unused bam which stood on his property
in an isolated situation. The ends were removed from this build-
ing, and my father converted it into a rough kind of open-air
hospital, with two floors, which he filled with the sufferers, and
there he successfully treated them.

On many questions in matters affecting the public health it
was common for him to be unofficially called on to advise the
governing authorities, civil and military, as in the instances
above referred to. From correspondence found upon his files it
appears that when the Marquis of Lome was in Halifax, upon
the assumption of office as Governor-General in 1878, he consulted
my father upon a very delicate matter of this nature. The con-
ference between them was followed by this correspondence.

My father's retirement from the Legislative Council, early
in the year 1901, was a great relief to him. While he held any
office, public or private, his sense of duty would not suffer him
to absent himself from the discharge of its obligations. Punctu-
ality and regularity of attendance had recently become very
difficult. The feeling of obligation to attend, which oppressed
him when the state of his health confined him to his home,
coupled with a growing distaste for the Council under recent
conditions, no doubt prompted the remark he made to a friend
on the day his resignation was accepted : " Now, Arthur, I'm
thankful to say, I am no longer ' Honorable ' !"

In this year there died two of his lifelong professional

494 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

brethren, to whom he was bound by the closest ties of friend-
ship and a real affection, Dr. James R. DeWolfe and Dr. William
J. Almon. Both were Edinburgh University men, his seniors
by a few years, and both had retired a few years before him.
The former had been his neighbor in Dartmouth for many years.
The latter was the son of his old master in the period of
apprenticeship. The long-standing intimacy among the three
had been maintained in old age by frequent association to the
last. The death of these old familiars he keenly felt and sincerely
mourned. Their passing from him, almost together, sundered
one of the few remaining links with the long past, and brought
to him a feeling that, so far as the true, tried and brotherly
friendships of his youth and early manhood were concerned, he
was now becoming almost alone in his generation.

What Dr. Almon' s estimation of my father had been may be
gathered from a saying of the doctor's, in one of those jocular
moods so characteristic of him, on the occasion of a banquet
given him by the profession when he retired. It is quoted in
an obituary reference to my father, published in the Morning
Chronicle, and which appears in a later chapter. At the request
of the editors of the Maritime Medical News my father wrote
a tribute to the memory of Dr. Almon, which will be found,
though with no clue to the authorship, in the Neivs for March,
1901 (vol. 13 at p. 105).

Of the various Halifax philanthropic enterprises with which
my father was long identified, that which seemed to occupy the
largest part in his large heart was the Institution for the Deaf
and Dumb, and it was the last to be relinquished. He had par-
ticipated in its beginnings, in the erection of the original school
building, for long years had ministered to the pupils as visiting
physician, and later as consultant; he had helped to nurture the
Institution through the years of its development, and had stood
by it bravely in all its trials, giving of his means to its susten-
ance, and safeguarding its interests in the Legislature to the end
that adequate and increasing financial support by the Province
might be obtained. Through the long term of his chairmanship
of the directors, and in his earlier capacities as a director and
visiting physician he made it a point to visit the Institution fre-
quently and to get acquainted with the pupils. It was touching
to witness his enthusiastic reception by these " children of
silence " on such occasions, or when he presided at the annual
closing exercises, or visited them at their Christmas festivities.
He won their personal affection, which was testified to by simple
gifts upon his birthdays and frequent letters which they would
write him, to show the progress they were making in their studies,
as well as by their mute exhibitions of delight at his appearance

THE DECLINING YEAES 495

among them at any time. When abroad, he would inspect all
similar institutions within his reach and was always alert by such
means, through correspondence with authorities on the subject,
and through his reading, to find something to advance the methods
of management and modes of instruction in the school. When the
noble structure which now graces the site of the old building was
erected and more land adjacent for extension purposes was acquired
in the later period of his chairmanship, this good fortune of
the Institution which he so dearly loved became to him a crown-
ing joy of the labors bestowed in its behalf by his colleagues and
himself.

In 1902, notwithstanding all this, he was constrained to part
with this child of his affections in philanthropic work, and most
reluctantly he retired from the chairmanship and the directorate,
— urging that his physical condition now denied him the perform-
ance of his duty. Of course the continuance of any office of trust
was deemed impossible by him when he could not perform its
labors. Nominal office he would not hold in any department of
work.

On this occasion the Directors passed a resolution in these
terms : —

"At a meeting of the directors of the Halifax Institution for the Deaf
and Dumb, held February 14th, 1902, the following minute was unani-
mously adopted:

" The directors would express their sincere regret that their chair-
man, Dr. Parker, has been compelled to resign his position on the board.
Dr. Parker has been connected with the institution ever since it was
founded, first as physician, then as director, and for twenty-five years as
chairman of the board. During all that time he manifested a deep and
ever-increasing interest in everything connected with the welfare of the
deaf. He always took an active part in the management of the insti-
tution, sparing neither time nor effort in advancing its interests, and
keeping it in every way abreast of the best institutions in other lands.
With this in view he frequently visited schools for the deaf in Britain
and the United States, making a study of the work and bringing to bear
on the Halifax institution the results of his careful observations. The
cause of the deaf in Nova Scotia is deeply indebted to him, for no one
has acted a more important part in the upbuilding of the Halifax insti-
tution than Dr. Parker. The directors feel that his withdrawal from
among them will be a very great loss. They will miss his wise counsel,
and they feel that his place on the board will not easily be filled. They
hope that his retirement from work may greatly improve his health and
that in the evening of life he may richly enjoy that satisfaction which
must flow from a blameless life spent in unceasing activity in seeking
the welfare of all classes of his fellow-men."

With reference to this resignation, the Acadian Recorder of
February 15th, 1902, published the following editorial :

" At a meeting of the board of directors for the Institution of the Deaf
and Dumb, held yesterday afternoon, the resignation of Honorable Dr.
Parker as chairman of the board and director of that institution was with
much reluctance accepted. Dr. Parker has acted as chairman of this
philanthropic institution for twenty-eight years, and for a much longer

496 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

time has served on the board. In every way he has been a most useful
and active member, never failing to render all the counsel to the board
and institution that a man of such eminent professional skill and matured
wisdom can alone of all men impart.

"A year ago he felt called upon to tender his resignation to the
Government as a member of the Legislative Council, and it will be re-
called with what feelings of sincere regret, all, whether Liberal or Con-
servative, heard his determination in that matter. Whatever Dr. Parker
undertook he attended to it faithfully, considerately, conscientiously and
well. It was because he felt that, owing to failing health, and to the fact
that he had reached a time of life when he might take a rest from the
world's more arduous duties, that he resigned that position he occupied
with such impartial bearing in all the many vicissitudes of political
struggles.

" It is for the same cause that now he has asked to be relieved from
attendance and work in connection with the charitable institution which
was always very dear to his heart. And it was with many feelings of
keen sorrow that the other directors felt that his wishes should be met,
glad, however, to know that they could still number him among the well-
wishers of the institution, and trusting that he would be long spared to
witness the many evidences in the success of the institution of the untir-
ing energy and valued counsel he had always so cheerfully given to this
one of our great charities.

" Of his sterling worth, his uprightness and integrity in every walk
of life, it is not required that we speak in fuller detail. They are known
to all classes of citizens, for the youngest of them have heard of Hon. Dr.
Parker's many kindly ways. We are glad that he still lives to enjoy a
little rest in this vicinity where he has so long labored so industriously;
glad, too, to be able to utter these words of praise while he is yet a citizen
with us.

" It is not often that it is permitted to pass upon the life of a man while
yet he lives, still it is particularly fitting when nought that can be said is
too flattering a testimony to his worth. Moreover the doctor is not spoiled
by kindness, his own modest demeanor forbidding that. Over and
above all his many qualities of hand and heart Dr. Parker was a perfect
gentleman, and in saying that we compress into one word with its quali-
fying attribute most of the character qualities we have already enlarged
upon. That Dr. Parker may live many years in the tranquil assurance
of a well-merited repose is the honest wish of the Acadian Recorder, and
in doing so we are confident we but echo the whole-hearted wishes of
Halifax and Dartmouth citizens of all creeds and classes."

In the volume of the Maritime Medical News for 1903 is
found an account of the presentation of an address and a silver
tea service by medical men to the late Dr. S. M. Weeks, of New-
port, N.S., in commemoration of his completing fifty years of
practice. My father's name heads the signatures to this address,
and I extract this paragraph from the account of the celebration:

" Congratulatory letters were read from old friends who were
unable to be present, among whom was the Hon. D. McN. Parker,
the venerable and beloved Nestor of our profession, who was him-
self a few years ago the subject of a similar jubilee demonstration,
and who, though now living in placid retirement, amid ' honor,
love, obedience, troops of friends,' still takes a lively interest in
everything relating to medical life and work."

The 26th day of August, 1904, was the fiftieth anniversary
of the marriage of my parents. For some time before that date

THE DECLINING YEARS 497

my father was in a state of nervous apprehension that some one
would think of it, and launch upon the calm current of this
summer's enjoyments a " golden wedding " function. It was
habitual with him to deprecate the presentation to him of any
gifts, and the thought of incurring the penalties of a " golden
wedding," with the incidental golden presents, through the mere
imprudence of living for fifty years after marriage (a circum-
stance which he said he could not avoid) was well nigh an
abhorrence. Some time before the dreaded date he induced
my mother to flee with him for refuge into the country until
the danger of the possible calamity should be overpast ; and they
spent the anniversary safely in Wolfville with their children
living there. However, it may be said here, in earlier life he
was not so fortunate, having been very frequently made the
recipient of gifts in token of the gratitude and love of numer-
ous patients, sometimes coming in the form of legacies from abroad
many years after the patient had passed from his ken.

On August 22nd, 1905, the Canadian Medical Association
again met in Halifax. The sessions were held in the new hall
of the School for the Blind. My father attended the opening
session in the afternoon, and yielding to the solicitation of the
managing doctors, he occupied a seat on the platform. Dr. John
Stewart, in beginning his Presidential address on that occasion,
after expressing his sense of obligation to the Lieutenant-Governor,
who had made an address of welcome to the delegates, said:
" Permit me also to express my pleasure in having on the plat-
form my old friend and colleague the Honorable D. MclsT. Parker,
one of the founders of the Association." These words were received
with tumultuous applause by a large audience of medical men
representing all parts of Canada, and by the general public who
were present.

At the same session Dr. D. A. Campbell delivered the address
in Medicine, in which he reviewed the growth and organization
of the medical profession in JSTova Scotia. In referring to the
organization of this Association, for all Canada, in 1867, when
the union of the Provinces had widened the outlook of the pro-
fession, he mentioned " the fact that the honor of first presiding
over the deliberations of this important organization was accorded
to a Nova Scotian " — Sir Charles Tupper, to whom he paid
a just tribute. Proceeding, Dr. Campbell said : " And I cannot
omit mention of the second President of this Association, also a
Nova Scotian, and the ablest practitioner in the Province, chosen
for that place of honor because of his sterling character, public
spirit and successful professional career, one who fortunately is
still with us, an inspiring influence for all that is noble and good —
I refer, of course, to the Honorable Dr. Parker."
32

498 DANIEL McKEILL PAEKEK, M.D.

The acclamation whic'h had greeted the reference made by the
President, earlier in the session, was repeated in response to this
allusion.

This was the last appearance of my father in a meeting of any
professional society or gathering. It proved to be a farewell to his
professional brethren of the Province and of Canada, in any
united capacity. He passed from their midst that day, and they
saw his face no more.

By this time (1905) his vision had become much impaired
by cataract, on both eyes, which had been making its tedious
growth now for some time. In 1904 reading became laborious and
was accomplished usually by the aid of a large magnifying glass,
while the irregular character of his handwriting surviving from
this period attests the difficulty with which he wrote. Though
more feeble in his movements, he still took exercise in walking,
but the functional disorders of body, which had afflicted him so
long and had been so patiently endured, confined him increasingly
to the house. He thought much of going into hospital at Mon-
treal for treatment, and at the same time undergoing an opera-
tion for cataract; but specialists advised him that the eyes were
not yet ready for such an operation and he was persuaded to forego
the idea of hospital treatment as well.

Towards the close of the year 1904 began the cheerful, loving
ministry of reading to him and writing for him, through which
my mother and my sister Fanny became as eyes to the blind
during the remainder of my father's stay on earth. His keen
interest in the topics of the day as discussed in the current press
and periodical literature, as well as in books, remained unabated ;
and in the upper sitting-room, now the centre of the family life
because he chiefly occupied this apartment — a room always speci-
ally dear to him — he would be seated for hours at a time listening
to the readers, with placidity of mind and cheerfulness of aspect,
often engaging in animated commentary or discussion on subjects
suggested by the reading.

To see him so engaged rebuked at once the thought that he
might be in any wise dispirited or disappointed under the sore
deprivation to which he must now submit. Patient and uncom-
plaining in this, as in the hours of pain and sleeplessness and all
things adverse, he always was. His defective sight still per-
mitted him to move about, both in and out of doors, with com-
parative freedom ; but it was with some difficulty that he recognized
faces and distinguished persons. About this time, too, it was that
he began to recognize an inability to call up some word he wished
to use, and experienced slight lapses of memory in conversation.
His memory as to persons, facts and events relating back many
years was perfect, but the things of yesterday would slip from his
mind. Of these incidents of old age he was very conscious, and

THE DECLINING YEARS 499

they tended to a distaste for seeing visitors, except old friends, and
all the members of his family — in the larger sense. With these he
could converse with freedom, but to entertain the casual guest and
maintain conversation visibly embarrassed him. For this reason
he more and more secluded himself. The old spontaneous spirit of
general hospitality seemed unconsciously to pass slowly from him
and he became much shut in from society and the world external.
Yet he was almost always to be found in his old-time cheerful
frame of mind and with the old-time cheery manner. This sunset
period of life, gilded by the devoted love of those he loved, and
by the reflection of the spiritual life and light within him, was in
all respects supremely happy.

In these latest years his mind would turn much to the things
of long ago, and he found great pleasure, when there was oppor-
tunity, to talk of the past, as to which his speech would flow
fluently from the springs of his remarkably retentive memory.
His conversation at such times was always delightful, and often
highly amusing when he would fall into one of his old-time moods
of anecdote and humor.

He would dwell much upon spiritual themes, but I cannot
say that he did so more than in earlier years. Spiritually minded
he always was, and he had always great freedom in profitably
turning conversation to such subjects and directing it. His was
not a life whose old age had been reserved for the consideration of
the after life and its concerns. Jean Paul Richter said : " A man
must not so much prepare himself for eternity, as plant eternity
in himself — eternity serene, pure, full of depth, full of light and
all else." In truth, such a planting had been a long process in
the spiritual husbandry of my father's inner life. Long ere
these closing years the harvest had matured in rich fruition.
Long had he possessed, to a degree uncommon, an inward per-
sonal knowledge of the world within and the world above, in
Christian life and experience — a knowledge which entered into
the very fibre of his character and stood revealed in the life
external.

Frequently in this period he used to express the liveliest satis-
faction in that, throughout his life, he had made it a practice to
familiarize himself with the Scriptures and to store his memory
with his favorite chapters and portions of God's Word. For in
this time of failing eyesight he could explore, at will, the treasure
houses of memory for comfort and spiritual up-lift from these
sources. It was an unfailing delight for him to do so ; and he did
not fail to admonish his grandchildren and others to follow his
practice, that the same benefits some day might accrue to them.

In these declining years he found much pleasure and amuse-
ment in the society of his grandchildren, of whom, in 1905, there
were eleven, ranging in age from four to seventeen years. He was

500 DANIEL McNEILL paekee, m.d.

eager to be with them, and a pleasant sight it was to see him seated
in the midst of a group of these little people beneath the shelter-
ing beeches, or presiding over their amusements on the lawns, at
the old home. His inborn love for children, which seemed to con-
tribute to the success he had met in dealing with this difficult class
of patients in the days gone by, appeared to blossom now afresh
in the days of his old age and to shower its blessings on the path-
way of these infant lives. The recollection of his tender ministra-
tion to their needs in times of illness, often when he was physically
unfit for the exertion of visiting them, can never fade from the
memory of their parents.

On the 9th of August, 1905, death claimed from him his
youngest and only surviving brother, Francis. He was not well
enough to attend the sick bed as often as he wished, but did so up
to the measure of his strength. The severing of this last bond
of family union remaining to him on earth, out of all his father's
family, was a deep sorrow. Though seldom demonstrative in his
affections or other emotions at this time of life, his spirit bowed
low under the sense of loss and isolation which came to him now.
Eternity seemed nearer to him than ever before; but he was
cheered by the reflection that he had gained one more tie to the
life which was to come, in the translation of one more loved spirit
to welcome him beyond the bourne whither he knew his own spirit
must ere long follow on.

The year 1906 in the retirement of home was marked by no
special features or occurrences to distinguish it from the few
immediately preceding. In June he made his last annual visit to
Wolfville to see children and grandchildren residing there. He was
then visibly more feeble in body, and his eyesight had failed much
since he had been there a year before. He was still clinging to
the idea of an operation for cataract, but his strength and general
condition would not permit him to undergo this.

When the British Medical Association held its memorable
meetings in Toronto, in August, 1906, a " Handbook and Souvenir
of Canada," evidently written by a medical man but whose identity
is not disclosed, was prepared to commemorate the occasion, and
it had a wide circulation, not only among the visiting members
of the Association but throughout the country generally. In the
introduction to this, book the author says : " Sir Henry Holland
in his ' Eecollections of Past Life ' frequently referred with par-
donable pride to the extent of his travels, and the benefits, physical
and professional, that he had derived from them. The Dean of
Canadian Medicine, Dr. D. McN. Parker, of Halifax, who retired,
after fifty years of practice, in 1895, as President of the Dominion
Medical Association, attributed his success largely to his almost
yearly visits to London and Edinburgh. Of all the professions

THE DECLIXIXG YEAES 501

none needs a holiday season of travel more than the medical ; none,
for obvious reasons, has less opportunity of enjoying it."

The above statement, as to the frequency of my father's visits
abroad would be more accurate if cities of the United States and
Canada were named in connection with those mentioned, but I
give it as it is written.

This reference is quoted to illustrate the wide and living reputa-
tion which adhered to my father's name among medical men in the
second decade after he had ceased to be of the profession; and
time has not yet dimmed its lustre. This, probably, was the last
public allusion made to him, in connection with his profession,
while he lived.

The following extracts from letters belonging to this period
reflect much of the beloved personality of their writer as memory
pictures him and hears his voice in the years when they were
penned.

After Dr. Chute had resigned the pastorate of the First
Baptist Church, Halifax, to assume his professorship in Acadia
University, he unfailingly wrote, each year, to my father an
affectionate and tender congratulatory letter upon the occasion of
his birthday anniversary. The four letters to Dr. Chute (kindly
loaned by him for use here) are selected from my father's replies
to these birthday remembrances.

" Dartmouth, 1ST. S.,
"DearBro. Chute: " April 30th, 1902.

" I am in receipt of your congratulatory letter of the 26th
inst., relative to the 80th anniversary of my birth, for which I
beg you to accept my sincere thanks. I should be, and I think
I am, grateful to God for the many and great blessings He has
permitted me to enjoy during those four score years; which are
now past and gone — never to be recalled.

" In the nature of things I cannot but feel that my sojourn
here is short, and my prayer daily is that our Heavenly Father
may aid and strengthen me in improving the time. During your
sojourn with us as Pastor of the First Church, I am glad I
have the opportunity to say, you contributed in no small degree
to my spiritual comfort and welfare, by continually proclaiming
the ' truth ' as it is given to man in God's Word. To me, far
advanced in years, and drawing near the close of life, such pulpit
preaching and instruction cannot be valued or measured either
by language or the pen.

" We hope ere very long to spend a few days in Wolfville,
when we will have the opportunity of learning from yourself how
you like your new position, and the work connected therewith.

" Yours faithfully,

" D. McK Parker."

502 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

" Dartmouth, N. S.,

"May 1st, 1902.
" My dear Son :

" I am just about finishing my replies to those friends who
were kind enough to write me congratulatory letters connected with
my 80th birthday.

" The day is past and gone, and I am, I trust, grateful to
God, that He has spared me so long to mingle with those I love;
and to whom I am bound, by the warmest bonds of affection and
friendship.

" I thank you for your filial and loving letter of the 26th ult.,
and for the expressions of affection it contains. Your consoling and
comforting quotation from God's Word, ' Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee,' has for long years
strengthened me spiritually, and increased my faith in, and love
for, Him who first loved us ; then died for us, and is now our
Advocate; at the right hand of His, and our, Father in Heaven.

" I had a short and well expressed note from Fred in connec-
tion with my ' four score years ' birthday, and replied to it early
after its receipt.

" I will get Lord Roberts' book as soon as it is to be had.
I know I will be interested in it, and will enjoy it, especially as
the print is large. My eyesight, I am sorry to say, is getting
'no better fast,' as one of Tupper's Minudie French patients said
to him in the long years past when the question, ' How are you V
was asked him.

" We are all as well as usual here. Laura and Mac were
with us on the evening of the 28th, as also Dr. Stewart, for a
short time, who brought me a hyacinth in bloom, to let me know
that, although not mingling now with my professional brethren, as
in former days, I am not altogether forgotten. . . .
" Ever your affectionate Father.

" D. McN. Pakker."
" W. F. Parker, Esq.,

" Elmslea Cottage,

" Wolfville, N. S."

" Dartmouth, BT. S.,

"April 29th, 1903.
"Dear Brother Chute:

" I thank you most sincerely for your very kind congratulatory
letter of the 27th inst., on the occasion of my being about to enter
upon my 82nd year.

"In anticipation, 81 years is a long period; but retro-
spectively— just the opposite. Nearly all of the friends of my
boyhood, and early manhood, have passed away from earth, —
many of them I am assured to heaven. Now the companions

THE DECLINING YEAKS 503

of that period are beyond my vision, and the sound of my voice ;
but, thank God, I have faith to believe that I shall in the future —
and probably in the near future — be able to renew with many
of them a higher and holier friendship in heaven. The very
thought of the continuity of that new relationship tends to break
down and overcome the sting of death, and the victory of the
grave. How much we owe to the cross of Christ! And to His
utterance, ' It is finished.'

" May God bless you in your new sphere of labor, and may
those you love — of your own family and friends — be among the
saved.

" With my affectionate regards to yourself, your wife and
family,

" I remain,

"Yours faithfully,

" D. MoK Parker."

" Dartmouth, K". S.,

" April 27th, 1904.
"Dear Brother Chute:

" To-morrow is my birthday and if I am spared to see it, I
will have entered upon my 83rd year.

" In this connection permit me to tender you my heartfelt
thanks for your more than kind letter of the 24th inst., and let
me say that I have deeply regretted your absence from the pastoral
charge of the church with which I have been connected for more
than fifty years. My health is now seriously impaired, and I
very seldom cross the harbor — and then only when urgent business
matters demand my attention. I have not been able to visit Laura
and her half-dozen children during the whole winter.

" Happily I have found a congenial church home where God's
Word is preached in simplicity and earnestness ; and the great
fundamental truths of the gospel are placed before us by Dr.
Kempton — as the spirit of the Lord prompts him to deliver them.

" During the severe and boisterous weather of the winter I
could not venture out very often, but now, I hope to fill my seat
with more regularity. I attended the services in the mornings
of the last two Sabbaths, and listened with much pleasure and
profit to both the sermons.

" I hear of ' you and yours ' quite often — through Will's cor-
respondence, but am looking forward to the warm weather of June
when (D. Y.) I may have the pleasure of meeting you and yours
once more.

" I feel and know that I am not anchored to life on earth
but for a brief period, and I thank God that I can say I am
constantly looking forward to the end without doubts or fears —
relying on the precious promises — always remembering that the

504 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. The promises are
innumerable and I have faith to rely absolutely on them.

" With my kindest regards to Mrs. Chute and your family,
" I remain,

" Yours faithfully,

" D. McN. Parker."

" Dartmouth,, N. S.,

" April 28th, 1905.
" My Dear Brother Chute :

" I thank you most sincerely for your very kind and affection-
ate letter of yesterday.

" It is to me a matter of happy recollections that I had so
long the pleasure of sitting under your preaching and hearing
the Word of God proclaimed in its entirety and integrity. Those
were times of spiritual growth and prosperity — followed, I regret
to say, by that which I considered hostile to the teachings of God's
Word.

" Now I am glad to say that with Dr. Kempton as my pastor,
I am enabled to listen and partake of the truth as in the years
gone by. It was a sad sacrifice when the command came to me to
rise and depart from the old structure, so long known to me as
my church home ; but I have never regretted it even for a single
hour. It was like removing from darkness into light, and now,
I am in all human probability anchored in the Dartmouth church
until the end of life. .

" I commenced my 84th year this morning — feeling fairly
well ; but my sight is growing more and more dim. And this
to a man of my habits is a great deprivation. A large portion
of my reading is done now through the ears, by the aid of my wife
and Fanny. Such is God's will, and consequently it cannot but
be right. The past winter has practically been spent in the house.
I cannot walk fast enough to keep myself warm, and what with
high winds and storms, I have been almost anchored to ' my ain
fireside ' for months.

" My wife and Fanny join me in affectionate remembrances to
Mrs. Chute and yourself.

" I remain,

"Yours faithfully,

" D. McN. Parker."

" Please excuse errors of omission and of commission. Within
the past two weeks, in writing, if I take the pen away from the
paper I get adrift and cannot find the place to resume mv subject.

"D. P."

An account of the last things connected with the life now fast
ebbing to its source is postponed to a future chapter, while, in
the next, we briefly touch upon one department of that life's
activity which necessarily calls for some consideration.

CHAPTER XIV.
" DENOMINATIONAL."

"Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." —

Romans 12: 11.

It is not proposed here to examine or separately consider
my father's life in respect of his religion or his spiritual char-
acteristics and experience. In previous chapters perhaps enough
has been said, more or less incidentally, to disclose something of
the inner springs and the outer manifestations of his religious
life. In this aspect of his personality, I would rather allow his
letters and his other utterances by pen and speech to reveal the
man he was than to attempt a studied delineation; yet something
more of this phase or side of his character will appear later, and
to some extent from the testimony of others.

A visitor to my father's library at " Beechwood " will be con-
fronted by a filing cabinet, one drawer or compartment of which
bears upon its face the word which forms the title for this chapter.
This compartment with its legend, in my father's precise and
methodical way, is representative of the fact that his religious
denomination and its business filled a distinct and considerable
place in the aifairs of his life.

In every department of his multiform activity, such was the
intensity of his nature that not only what he did was done
thoroughly, but what he was he was thoroughly. We have seen
it in the professional sphere, in his political capacity and in all
business to which his energies were directed. So, he was a
denominational man thoroughly — through and through. Yet it
was not in his nature nor among his conceptions to be what is
sometimes termed, in a sectarian sense, narrow or narrow-minded.
~No man ever breathed who had a wider and fuller Christian
charity than had he. He gave freely of the love of his large,
loving spirit to Christians and churches of all denominations, and
freely of his means as well. A Baptist who would contribute
money, as he did, to aid in building churches of the Roman
Catholic faith, for instance, in localities where he believed they
would do a good work (and Christians of this faith are commonly
supposed to be the sectarian antipodes of the Baptists) can hardly
merit the charge of narrowness in his religious views. The great
majority of his intimate and dearest friends, moveover, were

505

506 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

not of his denomination, and he was equally beloved by adherents
of all the varying forms of Christian faith. While deploring the
apparently hopeless divisions among Christians of various forms
of faith and practice, his principle of action was : " Let every
man be fully persuaded in his own mind." For himself only had
he chosen the corps of the universal Christian forces in which
he would enlist. He could recognize the unity in diversity; and
as touching other men of other views he would sometimes use the
laconic Indian phrase : " All one brother."

After mature consideration and at a mature age, as we have
seen in an earlier chapter, and for the reasons stated there, having
cast in his lot with the people of the old Granville Street Church
in taking upon himself the vows and obligations of a Christian,
it necessarily followed, for a man with his strong sense of loyalty
to a cause, his devoted spiritual nature and his recognized capacity
as a man of affairs and a leader of men, that he should not only
seek to employ himself beyond the mere limits of his own church
iu the organized work of the Baptist body in which his church
participated, but that he should be sought out and chosen for
such service in the cause. And so it came about that early he
became prominent as a leading layman in denominational enter-
prises.

Founded in 1827, as an outcome of the disruption in St. Paul's
Church a few years before, the Granville Street Church, through
its leading members, among whom were James W. Nutting, Dr.
Lewis Johnstone and Edmund A. Crawley (afterward Rev. Dr.
Crawley), was mainly instrumental in the establishment of Horton
Academy in the following year, and in the organization of the
Baptist Education Society which carried on its work. Ten years
later Acadia College was founded through the efforts of this
Society. The fundamental design of both institutions was to
supply the denomination with an educated ministry. The thirty-
nine articles barred the gateway to King's College, and in 1838
when Dalhousie College was re-opened by the Government and
resuscitated by the Presbyterians, to whom it was handed over,
the Baptists deemed themselves rejected from participation in
its 'benefits. Hence, Acadia, or, as it was first named, Queen's
College.

To understand the ardent spirit of loyalty and affection which
for many years afterwards animated the supporters of Acadia
College, and more especially those of them who, like my father,
could recall the stirring events of 1838, it is necessary to know
something of the fierce struggle for higher educational privileges
which the founders of the institution went through to secure
them.

Rev. Dr. E. M. Saunders, in his " Sketch of the Origin and

" DENOMINATIONAL " 507

History of the Granville Street Baptist Church," written upon
the occasion of its jubilee in 1877, speaking of this period says: —

" But the special work of this church in connection with collegiate
education was not finished when the academy was founded. At first no

more than a high school was planned There was no decided

policy adopted at the time in regard to denominational colleges. It would
seem that, at that day, had all the colleges then existing — King's at
Windsor and Dalhousie at Halifax — been free from bigotry and exclusive-
ness, the Baptists would have been willing to cast in their lot with them
in common collegiate work. But it soon became evident to some that
ostracism was the policy to be pursued toward the Baptists. About ten
years after the founding of the academy, the friends of education among
the Baptists in Halifax interested themselves to secure for Dr. Crawley
a professorship in Dalhousie College. One prominent Presbyterian minis-
ter favored the movement, but the effort did not succeed, and the defeat
could be accounted for only on the hypothesis that Dr. Crawley was a
Baptist. This act arrested the attention and stirred the heart of the
Baptist body. A new departure was the result. On this church again
fell the onus of leading in this movement. The Baptists throughout the
Province were aroused, and they had the courage of their convictions.
They rose up and asked the Legislature for a college charter. They were
sneered at and ridiculed; but God was with them, and the walls of Acadia
arose, and the charter was granted. Popular meetings at Annapolis,
Halifax and Onslow, the circulating of petitions to the Legislature, battles
en the floors of Parliament and in the press, are now, in the retrospect,
the witnesses of the opposition and struggles through which the denomina-
tion had to pass before it came into full and peaceable enjoyment of its
educational rights and privileges.

" It is now known that the leaders of this campaign were the same
men who had been raised up to lead in the establishment of Horton
Academy. The late Judge Johnstone, in Parliament, before his con-
stituents in Annapolis County, and at the associational meetings; Dr.
Crawley measuring swords with the eminent statesman, the late Governor
Howe, at Onslow; and J. W. Nutting and John Ferguson in the columns
of the Christian Messenger of that day, were the men who led the Baptists
to that victory, the crown of which is Acadia College on the brow of the
hill at Horton. They won the battle. Denominational colleges are now
deeply rooted in the hearts of the people of this Province, especially in
the hearts of the Baptists."

My father had been closely associated with the Halifax men
who were the Baptist leaders in this contest, first while engaged
in medical study between 1838 and 1841, afterward when Halifax
became his home. He had been all the while an attendant at the
historic church which supplied these leaders and which was
contributing largely in money to carry on the infant college —
" the child of Providence," as it was fondly called. In 1838, and
later, he had closely and sympathetically followed the campaigns
of the Baptists against Joseph Howe and his subservient Legis-
lature. Moreover he was an alumnus of Horton Academy.
Through these various influences, when he became a Baptist in
1852, he became, naturally, an inheritor of the zeal for denom-
inational education and Acadia College which Dr. Saunders has
briefly pictured in his sketch.

Thus strongly predisposed, he became an ardent advocate
of denominational or Christian education in general (in the

508 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

academic and collegiate stages) as opposed to the principle of
colleges conducted by the State; of the small college system, as
opposed to a large and central institution, for doing the work
required for a degree in Arts.

From his denominational standpoint, apart from the general
question of which class of college could do the better work in
education — a predominant part of which he considered to be the
formation and development of character in young men, upon a
religious basis — he saw that the Baptists, at some disadvantage in
consequence of their system of independence in church govern-
ment, would be unified and strengthened by having a group of
educational institutions as their own distinctive possession. In his
view, these higher schools would be a general and central object
around which the denominational life would concentrate — a very
heart of the Baptist body, into which its benevolence would gather, *
and whence a stream of beneficent influence would flow to vivify all
the churches, as a return for the investment.

In his speech in the Legislative Council upon the Halifax
University Bill, in 1876, he thus expressed himself in contend-
ing that the small colleges, where the professors were daily in
close touch with the students individually, could do more effectual
work in mere mind training than the large institutions. " We
were told the other night by a prominent gentleman at Temper-
ance Hall that one professor could instruct five hundred students as
well as twenty. I maintain the contrary, and I speak both from some
experience of large institutions as well as of small ones. A pro-
fessor lecturing to a small number of students has an opportunity i
of examining them repeatedly and closely, thus ascertaining .
whether the seed he is sowing is taking root or not, and whether
they are taking in that which he is imparting. In the large
colleges the professors deliver their lectures, and then go out with-
out knowing whether the students have taken in what they have
been saying or not."

In the same speech, the following quotation which he made
from Dr. Fyfe, then Principal of Woodstock Baptist College,
Ontario, and a high educational authority, expresses my father's
ideal of higher education in its wider significance than mere mind
training: "What I prefer and what I insist on is that each
denomination should furnish the highest education for its members.
The state colleges (teaching schools) fail egregiously, and must
fail, in the formation of character — in the development of spiritual
culture. It is so in London University — it is so in Toronto.
There is no blinking of this aspect of the question. They can teach
Latin, Greek and merely secular subjects. But the motives and
aims of life, the conscience and the whole spiritual nature, or the
department of faith they never touch. And I hold that no Chris-
tian can overrate this loss."

" DEXOMIXATIOXAL " 509

Among all the philanthropic causes in which he was enlisted,
the cause of the Horton institutions seemed to be the dearest of
them all. The unwavering attachment which he cherished for them
and his devotion in their service, as now recalled, would appear
singular in these days of changed conditions and more material-
istic aims but for a recognition of the circumstances we have
detailed and the knowledge of my father's characteristics which
we have. The cult of these institutions of learning was portion
of his practical religion. He was wont to make them a regular
object of his prayers, both in family worship and in public de-
votional meetings of his church. His prayers were supplemented
by his gifts. From the time of his settlement in Halifax he was
an enthusiastic and liberal contributor to their support. He has
been known to borrow considerable sums of money to give in
times of their especial need, when their managers, of whom he
^vas one, were obliged to put their hands deeply into their own
pockets to keep the doors open. Such donations in this depart-
ment of his benevolence, as in others, were often made anony-
mously.

Xot long since, a Baptist minister, in addressing a meeting
at Wolfville, illustrated the old " Acadia " spirit, which he now
missed, by telling that many years ago, when he was a student
there, he had been in Dr. Parker's hands for medical treatment,
and upon asking what fee he owed, the physician said, with
impressive earnestness, " Pray for Acadia College, always, that
is the only fee I ask of you."

In 1860 he was appointed to the Board of Governors, on
which he served from that time continuously until the summer
of 1889. In this sphere of influence he was a conspicuous figure
and a leader in the work, for which he was eminently qualified
by his good judgment, business ability, tact, resourcefulness, and
by his cheery courage in facing the discouragements and financial
embarrassments which too often beset the Board in those years
of almost continuous anxiety and care — when there was no Rocke-
feller, no Carnegie to relieve distressful situations. In punctuality
and regularity of attendance at meetings in Wolfville and else-
where he was an example to his colleagues, although invariably
he was obliged to make personal sacrifice and much preliminary
arrangement of his professional and other work in order to be
present.

In the Legislature he was the champion of his denomination
on all occasions when grants to colleges and academies were under
discussion; and he successfully maintained the cause of equal
lights for all, in the years when state aid was granted.

In representing the cause and needs of the college before the
annual Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces he was a
readv and forceful advocate, and there his views on educational

510 DANIEL McNEILL PARKEK, M.D.

policy and duty were invariably heard with marked attention
and respect. Upon special occasions, at gatherings of the denom-
ination having special reference to educational matters it was
usual for him to be sought as chairman.

On May the 9th, 1877, at a time of financial crisis, there
was a special and large meeting of the body at Paradise, Annapolis
County, in order that the governors might present their case to
the people. He presided there, and from a brief of his address
on that occasion, found in one of his notebooks, one can gather
enough to indicate that his speech from the chair must have been
a notable one. On the 4th of December, 1877, two days after the
college building was utterly swept away by fire, a large emergency
meeting convened at Wolfville, at which he presided. I witnessed
his animated, masterly conduct of that meeting, when he seemed
inspired, and to inspire all present, with a dauntless faith for
the future of his beloved work. Even before he left home, by
telegraphing abroad and by personal solicitation he had raised
considerable funds for rebuilding — from sources which no one
else but he could reach; and when, somewhat in the style of an
auctioneer, after a rousing, telling speech, he undertook to raise
a large sum on the spot, the meeting surrendered at discretion to
his impassioned spirit, and that night the governors were placed
in a position to " arise and build." When the new college building
was nearing completion in 1879 the students of college, academy
and seminary united in presenting the bell which now hangs in
the college belfry. For the presentation ceremony the assembly
hall in the new college was used for the first time. There my
father presided and on behalf of the Board of Governors accepted
the address of presentation and the gift, delivering in reply one of
his earnest and happy addresses to the students.

When the jubilee of the college was held in 1888 with assem-
blies and ceremonies extending over several days, he was asked
to preside at the principal meeting, but he was not able to be
present. For the same reasons which at this period were moving
him to reduce work outside his profession he had reluctantly sent
in his resignation of office on the Board of Governors, and this had
come before the Convention just previous to the jubilee meetings at
the college. How the resignation was received is shown by the
following extracts from a letter of the Convention's Secretary :

" Wolfville, N.S.,

September 7, 1888.
"Hon. D. McN. Parker. M.D., D.C.L.

" Dear Brother, — At the late annual meeting of the Baptist Conven-
tion of the Maritime Provinces, your resignation of office as a governor of
Acadia College was duly presented, in agreement with your wish. On
motion of Rev. S. B. Kempton, it was unanimously and heartily,

" Resolved, ' That the secretary write Dr. Parker, expressing our
appreciation of his services to the college, and requesting him to allow
his name to remain upon the list of governors for the coming year.'

" DENOMINATIONAL " 511

" I think the adoption of the foregoing expresses better than any
words of mine the value members of Convention place upon your long
and efficient services as governor. In one sense no one can appreciate,
because no one knows, the time and care, the prayer and labor you have
bestowed upon the work here during the long years you have held a place,
a foremost place on the governing board. But I know from the warm
response whenever your name is mentioned in Convention, as well as from
conversation with a large number of the best men in the denomination,
that our body is not forgetful of your labors of love or of the value of
those labors.

" We are grateful for such a man, far-seeing and faithful, able and
willing to contend for the Gospel and for the institutions designed to
promote the best welfare of the people.

" Your services have in themselves been of the greatest value and I
believe your example is equally potent as a means of stimulating
others. . . .

" Be assured, dear brother, of the esteem and gratitude of all who
intelligently prize our denominational enterprises."

At the same time the Jubilee Committee addressed him in these
terms :

" The Committee of Arrangements for the College Jubilee wish to
express their regrets that you were not able to be present at those exer-
cises and to preside on Wednesday evening.

" The friends of the college remembering your faithful services for
these many years in its behalf and your liberal contributions towards its
support, would have felt that it was but just that you should act as chair-
man of the crowning meeting of the jubilee.

" The committee avail themselves of the opportunity to make renewed
expression of their sense of obligation to you for all your labors in behalf
of the college. They unite in the hope that your health and strength may
be long continued."

Having regard to the condition of his health and his probable
inability to be present at all the meetings of the Governors (a
matter of imperative duty with him while he retained office) he
felt obliged to press the resignation from the Board in the next
year. On September 2nd, 1889, we find, the Secretary of the Con-
vention wrote him as follows :

"Hon. Dr. Parker, Halifax:

" Dear Sir and Brother, — At the late Annual Meeting of the Baptist
Convention of the Maritime Provinces, held at Fredericton, N.B., August
24-28, 1889, the following resolution was moved by Rev. Dr. Sawyer,
seconded by Rev. Dr. Saunders, and strongly supported by Rev. S. B.
Kempton and S. Selden, and unanimously and most heartily passed:

" Resolved, That the sincere and hearty thanks of this Convention
be tendered to the Hon. Dr. Parker for his most valuable and con-
tinuous services from 1860 till the present time upon the Board of Gov-
ernors of Acadia College, and our regret that the condition of his health
has caused him to press his retirement from the Board. Long may his
life be spared to aid us with his wise counsels, as he has so uniformly
and effectively for the past thirty years."

In connection with my father's retirement from his profession,
the Reverend A. W. Sawyer, D.D., then President of Acadia
College, paid the following tribute to his services in the cause of
education, which was published in the Messenger and Visitor of
August 14th, 1895.

512 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

" A WOBD MOEE.

" Every reader of the Messenger and Visitor, at all acquainted with
the facts, must have felt that the acknowledgment of Dr. Parker's gen-
erous and unswerving support of all the benevolent enterprises of the
denomination was amply deserved. But his relations to one of these
objects have been so intimate and his services in its behalf so valuable
that they should be especially noted. For nearly the entire period of
his professional life Dr. Parker has been officially connected with the
management of our educational institutions. His contributions for their
financial support have been frequent and large. He has been one of the
most constant in his attendance on the meetings of the Board of Gov-
ernors in Wolfville and elsewhere, although that attendance must often
have seriously interfered with his professional practice. His counsels
were always wise and helpful. Oftentimes his courage and cheerfulness
in circumstances of discouragement have led to success from the brink
of defeat.

" Such faithful devotion to the interests of our educational institu-
tions deserves special acknowledgment. The example ought to be an
incentive to similar devotion on the part of many young men in the
same good work.

"A. W. Sawteb."

The editor supplemented this in these words :

" We publish with pleasure in another column President Sawyer's
* Word More ' referring to the great value of the services rendered by
Hon. Dr. Parker to the denomination in connection with our educational
work, and especially as a governor of Acadia College. The tribute is
richly merited. The college and its kindred institutions have always
had a place near the heart of the denomination. Many have loved them
well. But among all who have held them dear and labored to promote
their welfare it would be difficult to name one who has shown a more
constant, unselfish and practical friendship than has the honored
brother of whom the President of the College writes."

During the time when that remarkable man and denominational
leader, the Reverend John Mockett Cramp, D.D., of the Isle of
Thanet, England, occupied the Presidency of Acadia College (1851
to 1869), and for years afterwards, he and my father were very
intimately and confidentially associated, not only in educational
work but in denominational affairs generally. Each had for the
other a deep regard and a warm affection. In temperament they
closely resembled one another, and Acadia College was to the one
what it was to the other. Their common work on its behalf was
a strong bond of fellowship. When Rev. Thomas A. Higgins
wrote his biography of Dr Cramp, my father, at the author's
request, made to the book the following contribution, which, as
the edition of that work was small, I wish to embody here: first to
help perpetuate the memory of Dr. Cramp — one of my father's
most intimate and distinguished friends — and for the further
reason that, although in what he wrote my father effaces himself,
one may discern, between the lines, something of the place which he
himself occupied in those strenuous years of effort on behalf of the
college to which reference lias been made, and in denominational

" DENOMINATIONAL " 513

life more generally, during the middle decades of the last century.
Again, it is fitting that this tribute to Dr. Cramp should find place
here, because my father wrote it.

Dr. Higgins says :

" The following is an expression of regard from the Hon. Dr.
Parker of Halifax, one of the most efficient members of the Board
of Governors during Dr. Cramp's connection with the college :"

My father wrote :

" My first meeting with Dr. Cramp was on the occasion of his
preaching in Granville Street Church, a short time before he
entered upon his duties at Acadia College. I was impressed both
with the matter of the sermon and with the manner in which it
was delivered. The fundamental truths of the Gospel were pro-
claimed with ability and power, and I left the house feeling that a
scholarly man, an experienced Christian and an able preacher was
about to be added to the Baptist ministry of our Province.

" Immediately after my connection with the denomination, I
became interested in our educational institutions at Wolfville, and
subsequently was placed on the Board of Governors of the college.
Here my relations with Dr. Cramp were, at first, of a business
character, but I very soon learned to appreciate his ability and
worth, and to entertain a warm friendship for him, which con-
tinued until his removal by death.

" The work in which he was engaged, and to which he was
devoting the energies of the best years of his life, giving to our
institutions his matured thought, his time and his money, was the
connecting link that brought us very often together, and cemented
cur friendship. During the earlier years of his connection with
Acadia his trials were many. Apart from those incidental to the
educational and general management of a college, inadequately
equipped with a teaching staff, there were financial difficulties
almost continually present, and few were the men who, surrounded
by such circumstances as he had to contend with, would have con-
tinued the struggle and retained the position. Yet, through all
and every difficulty, while others were depressed, faint-hearted, and
often lacking in faith, he was buoyant, cheerful, fertile in resources,
and always relying faithfully on the strong arm of the Lord.

" When he announced, by telegram, to his brethren in Halifax
that his faithful colleague and ' right-hand man/ Isaac Chipman,
was buried beneath the waters of Minas Basin, our hearts failed us,
and our first thoughts were: Can our institutions survive the
shock? Will Dr. Cramp not be disheartened and relinquish the
contest? But no such thoughts found a lodgment in his mind.
33

514 DANIEL McNEILL PAEKEB, M.D.

His motto had been and was, ' Trust ye in the Lord forever.' He
trusted, labored, and conquered ; and as a result of his ' faith and
works ' Acadia lives, and will continue to live, sending forth from
her halls young men mentally qualified to fight the battle of life,
many of them to contend against the common enemy of mankind —
to fight the battles of the Lord — thus imparting annually addi-
tional vigor and strength to our denomination and increased sta-
bility to the moral and social structure of our country.

" His versatility of talent was only equalled by his untiring
indastry. The governing board ever found him, although always
burdened with work, ready and willing to assume additional duties,
when emergencies arose and the necessities of the hour called for
such extra labor.

" Notwithstanding his many and varied engagements as pro-
fessor, president and ex-officio governor of the college, he made the
time to perforin the arduous duties of corresponding secretary of
the Foreign Missionary Board of the Convention of the Maritime
Provinces — and dearly he loved the work, for he was imbued with
the missionary spirit and with the desire that God's Word should
be carried, by those whom he himself had educated, to the far-off
lands of the heathen.

" His facile pen was constantly engaged in advancing our edu-
cational, denominational and general interests, and, when neces-
sary, in defending and upholding our doctrinal views as Baptists.

" The familiar initials ' J. M. C were noticed in the Christian
Messenger with great frequency, and I am free to say that the
subjects there discussed by him always attracted marked attention,
and the articles of no correspondent of that denominational journal
were more gladly welcomed by its readers than those which eman-
ated from his pen.

" When physically able, his familiar face was always seen at
our associations and conventions, where, as the head of our most
important organization (Acadia College) and as the result of his
ability and practical experience, he very early came to be acknow-
ledged a leader in all departments of our denominational work.

" With voice and pen he was always ready to aid the cause of
temperance, and never lost an opportunity of assisting its advance-
ment. In this all-important moral reform, also, he became an
active leader. Few men's minds were stored as his was with his-
toric facts, whether these had relation to Biblical, ancient or
modern secular history, or to the origin and growth of the different
denominations of the world. Hence his companionship was addi-
tionally interesting to those who were fortunate enough to claim
him as a friend.

" His work entitled ' Baptist History ' has had a wide circula-
tion, and will long keep his name prominently before our denom-
ination.

" DENOMINATIONAL " 515

" Let me briefly narrate an incident which will show how
highly it is appreciated by those who dwell beyond our borders.

" Returning from Western Canada a dozen or more years ago,
I spent a Sunday in Albany, the capital of New York State, and
by accident was directed to the church then presided over by Dr.
Lorimer. After the morning service I had some conversation
with him, and on learning that I was from Nova Scotia he asked
me if I knew Dr. Cramp, to which question I replied affirmatively,
when he continued in words to this effect : ' What a grand work his
" Baptist History " is ! It should be in the house of every Baptist
family. So highly do I and my church value it that we have sup-
plied our colporteur or colporteurs with two hundred volumes, that
it may be spread over this section of our land, and be made the
means of educating our people in the history and principles of our
denomination.'

" Dr. Cramp has, by precept and example, left his impress on
the minds and lives of a large number of young men who were
educated mentally and spiritually under his supervision. These,
or many of them, went forth from him into the world bearing in
mind, and in their hearts, his teachings. Numbers of them
engaged in secular occupations ; happily many more went through-
out our own country and to other lands to preach the Gospel to their
fellow-men, in heathen as well as in Christian communities ; but
wherever they went they carried with them this ' impress,' and
also a great respect and admiration for the life and character of
him who had been their instructor and friend. Those who, like
myself, were present, year after year, at the anniversary meetings
of Acadia, will long remember his addresses to the graduating
classes. They were so happily expressed, with pathos and power
so appropriate to the occasions and the circumstances, that I feel
assured none could have listened to them without emotion. Let me
say in conclusion, that Dr Cramp came to us — I speak of the
denomination — a stranger, in whom very many of our number had
no special interest, but as time passed, and we were brought into
contact with him, his genial, companionable nature, his mental
and moral characteristics, his love for our people, his long years
of able and untiring labor for our best interests, together with his
great generosity in contributing annually four hundred dollars
($400) to the funds of the college, from a very limited professional
income connected with the presidential office, gave him a home in
the denominational heart, and now that he has gone from us, we
who were his contemporaries, and in a limited sense his co-laborers,
as we think of him and the great work he accomplished, will ever
hold his memory in affectionate remembrance.

" D. McN. Parker."

516 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

For many years my father rendered faithful and laborious
service on the Convention's Board of Ministerial Aid and Relief,
and he filled other offices of responsibility for the denomination,
involving, principally, the administration of trust funds.

In the Convention, the parliament of the Baptists in the three
Maritime Provinces, he was regular in attendance and evinced
a most lively interest in all the business conducted by that repre-
sentative and very democratic assembly. As a debater he carried
weight. His was a commanding influence over the minds of the
majority, and he swayed them as a leader of their thoughts and
deliberations. His convictions upon all matters of denominational
polity were strong. Backed, as they always were, by his impres-
sive earnestness in expression and by the very force of his charac-
ter, his opinions upon doubtful or debatable questions seldom
failed to convince and guide the thinking, leading men of Con-
vention. In 1870 he was elected president of this body, following
the Reverend Dr. Cramp in that office.

Although not in the ordinary acceptation of the term a repre-
sentative Baptist — if indeed there could be one under the Baptist
system of independent churches, with the divergent and somewhat
perplexing variety of tenet and practice found among their adher-
ents— my father came to be regarded and widely known as an
exponent of the denomination, if not a type. On one occasion, at
a dinner in Ottawa, where, in speaking, he followed a prelate of
the Roman Catholic Church, Sir John A. Macdonald, who pre-
sided, introduced him, facetiously, as " the Baptist Bishop of
Nova Scotia." ' i

In the old Granville Street Church (afterwards called the First
Baptist Church, Halifax), where his denominational affections
were centred in a church home, for over fifty years he was a faith-
ful member and trusted office-bearer. It is not too much to say
that during all this time, through his precept, through his example,
through his generous financial aid, his membership in it was a
tower of strength to that church. Indeed, I have often heard it
suggested that but for his support it would probably have ceased
to exist — in the days of its adversities long ago. Yet notwith-
standing the prominence in church life which naturally resulted
from his mental and spiritual endowments, from his zeal for the
church, and, in some measure, from his social position, he was no
Diotrephes, but notably and sincerely humble in everything per-
taining to the church work and fellowship.

No one could take church life and duty more seriously than did
he, and I have never found a man to whom his church and its
spiritual welfare meant more, a man in whose life his church
interests occupied a larger part.

The church's poor, its erring member, for whom he felt a

" DENOMINATIONAL " 517

sense of personal responsibility, ever found with him the out-
stretched hand to help, the wise and timely word of admonition
and encouragement. Heaven only has the record of his personal'
Christian work among the people of " Granville Street," but there
have 'been many scores of witnesses from among them to bless his
name for what he was to them.

In the Sunday School, for many years in the busiest period
of his life, he conducted an adult Bible-class. Always a close
student of the Bible, his preparation for this work was exhaustive,
his conduct of the class eminently attractive and successful. No
tax imposed upon his time and strength by this labor of love was
deemed too great by him.

In the old days, on Granville Street, before the fashion of
" supplying " the pulpit during temporary absences of the pastor
was in vogue, I have known him to occupy the pulpit and conduct
public worship himself — on which occasions he would read a
sermon.

In the mid-week services of the church he was frequently
called upon, under similar circumstances, to lead the meeting.
His addresses from the platform or from the floor, and the prayers
which he would offer, were always striking and impressive features
on these occasions. For extempore addresses on Scripture themes
he was rarely gifted. His careful preparation of addresses when
filling the pastor's place in prayer-meetings, and for other social
gatherings of the church, is attested now by his notes or outlines
of them, which remain in orderly arrangement as they were filed
away by his own hand — mute testimonies alike to that spirituality
of mind and fidelity to church duties which marked his whole life.

He was scrupulously regular in his attendance upon all the
public exercises and business meetings of the church, often giving
to them three evenings out of the week, besides attending thrice on
Sunday. It is well remembered by some of the children how, after
the removal to Dartmouth in 1868, no inconsiderable portion of
this day of rest seemed to be spent by them on highway and ferry —
in Sabbath-day journeys. At the most active period of their
father's life, only emergencies in his practice would prevent his
attendance, though often late, at Sunday morning service. Even
the old Sunday horse " Tom " recognized the rule of punctuality
at public worship ; for when left at the Argyle Street office door,
or at a patient's door within sound of the bells of St. Paul's, the
chime for church was the signal for him to start, and his master
not infrequently had to follow on foot to the Granville Street
Church door, where he would be greeted with a reproachful turn
of the head from " Tom " — as who should say, " What, late again !"

The history of old " Granville Street " was marked by troubles,
at various times, but never more so than by the events of 1867,

518 DANIEL McNEILL parker, m.d.

which tried the souls of members and proved the stuff that men
were made of. The church then was well-nigh rent in twain over
most serious questions involving the moral character of the pastor,
who was a very prominent figure in the Baptist body. A church
council composed of leading men of the denomination, from various
churches throughout the Province, was called to "Granville Street"
to deliberate and advise. It found the pastor guiltless. The
church, by a majority vote, rejected the findings and refused to
accept the advice of the council. My father was a leader of this
majority. His own view of the evidence, his lofty conception of
duty, his keen sense of honor and his inviolate conscience left him
no alternative, though to do what he deemed right wrought an
estrangement between him and the old Judge in Equity, James
W. Johnstone, which was never fully healed, and separated him
from the church fellowship of many others, friends and family
connections, who then quitted " Granville Street " forever. It
was long ere the church recovered from this shock. To my father
it was one of the most serious jars in his life. But through evil
and good report, in storm and in sunshine, he was ever steadfast in
the loyalty he bore to this church of his adoption ; and true to his
convictions then, as ever, he patiently, bravely bore its sorrows as
he exulted in its joys.

In old age, when deprived of the privilege of regular attend-
ance upon the services of the church, we discover in the two fol-
lowing letters the same undying spirit of church attachment which
characterized the earlier years. These letters (kindly loaned by
Rev. Dr. Chute) are examples from a series of responses which, in
his latest years, my father made to the church's notice of its annual
roll-call meeting. Within the lines of these letters, too, he has
embodied, in a very few words, the spirit and essence of his per-
sonal religion.

" Dartmouth, January 31st, 1899.
" To the Pastor and Members of the First Baptist Church, Halifax,

" Dear Brethren and Sisters :

" I am in receipt of your circular of the 12th inst., inviting me
to be present at our Annual Church ' Reunion and Review,' on
February 1st. I very much regret my inability to meet with you
on that occasion, that I might in person take some part in the pro-
ceedings of the evening, but, as I shall be absent, I will say on
paper that it is a continual sorrow with me that I am deprived of
the privilege of mingling with you at the week-night services, and
not unfrequently, also, on those of the Lord's day. No person can
appreciate the spiritual value of such services as those who, having
for long years been partakers in such blessings, find themselves

" DENOMINATIONAL " 519

deprived of them in consequence of physical infirmity, old age or
other causes. It is a blank, and a want, that words either spoken
or written cannot well and faithfully delineate. Remembering;
the character and objects of these annual meetings, it is necessary
that my words should be few. First, let me say that since I gave
my attention (under influences from above that I could not resist)
tc spiritual things, and began to seriously appreciate their import-
ance, I have never once regretted having cast in my lot with God's
people. Neither have I ever once regretted that in the year 1852
I united with the Granville Street Baptist Church (now the First,
Halifax), and thus became associated with the Baptist denomina-
tion of the three Maritime Provinces, sympathizing with them in
their varied trials and difficulties, as well as in their successes and
victories for Christ. If my memory serves me correctly, all
those who welcomed me into their fellowship, who consti-
tuted the membership of Granville Street Church in 1852
— forty-six long years ago, or thereabouts — have one after another
been removed from earth, I trust to be forever with the Lord, in
His kingdom of heaven. In the nature of things, ' the places
that now know me will soon know me no more,' and one of the
happiest thoughts I have, when contemplating the all-important
future, is, the happy meetings — in the presence of the Lord —
which await me in heaven, with those with whom I have been
associated in church fellowship during the long years past.

" I have an abiding faith in the promises of God's Word, and
am comforted with the assurance that when called upon to say
farewell to earth — notwithstanding oft-recurring shortcomings,
sins of commission and of omission — I shall be received, as one of
the redeemed, into the everlasting kingdom — a sinner, saved by
grace and the all-atoning blood of Christ. God is love! and with
Him there is neither variableness nor shadow of turning.

" Praying that His blessing may rest upon and ever abide with

you,

" I remain,

" Yours faithfully

"D. McN. Parker."

" Dartmouth, February 13th, 1901.
" My Dear Pastor :

" I am in receipt of your card asking me to be present at the
' Poll Call ' of our church this evening. Were I differently cir-
cumstanced I would deem it a duty, and a privilege, to be present
with you. As you are aware, I am not physically able to accom-
plish that which five or six years ago I could do without discomfort
or risk. The clays are now but few ere I shall enter upon my
eightieth year — should God see fit to add that brief period to my

520 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

life. Nearly forty-nine of those years have been spent in the mem-
bership of this church. In May, 1852 (the date of my baptism),
I was the junior; now, if I mistake not, I am the senior member
on our roll.

" These figures and dates have a tendency to depress me when
I think of the little I have accomplished for the cause of Christ,
and the many opportunities that were permitted to pass me by
unimproved during that long period. But thanks be to God — I
am in His hands, the hands of a loving Father and a gracious
Saviour — ' The man Christ Jesus,' in whose pardoning mercy I
have an abiding faith and in whose everlasting promises I am
assured, that ' every jot and every tittle ' of them will in His own
time and in His own way be fulfilled. The church — our church —
is daily on my mind, and I pray God to bless and be with it con-
tinuously, in all its membership and in all its interests.

" I remain,

" Affectionately yours,

"D. McN. Pakker."

" As a P.S. I add a brief portion of God's Word which often
recurs to my mind, in these days when men everywhere are giving
their thoughts very largely to the subjects of Wealth and the
World: ' Man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth.' "

I draw the curtain over the ending of his relations with this
church. Christian charity requires this; but those who loved
my father and revere his memory cannot forget.

In the chapter which precedes this there are two letters of his
own which say all that need be said upon this painful episode
which came about — a very anti-climax — to terminate a member-
ship of over " fifty faithful years," a membership whose course had
been illumined by such a record as I have perhaps too lightly
sketched. Of the church where he then found refuge, spiritual
sustenance and happiness he speaks himself, in the letters just
referred to. If, as he said at this deplorable juncture in his
church experience, he was " too old to fight " for the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, he was none too old to enjoy its ministry in the little
Dartmouth church where he sought sanctuary for a little, ere he
should exchange it for the great congregation who " have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb .
and serve Him day and night in His temple."

CHAPTER XV.
FROM LIFE TO LIFE.

" There is no death! The stars go down
To rise upon some fairer shore,
And bright in heaven's jewelled crown

They shine for evermore.

" There is no death! The leaves may fall,
And flowers may fade and pass away;
They only wait through wintry hours
The coming of the May.

"There is no death! An angel form
Walks through this earth with silent tread;
He bears our best loved things away,
And then we call them ' dead.'

" And ever near us, though unseen,
The dear immortal spirits tread;
For all the boundless universe
Is* life — There are no dead!"

— Lord Lytton.

The year 1907 brought a gradual but more perceptible failure
of my father's bodily strength. A weariness of spirit seemed
now to overshadow and oppress him, while his general interest
in things about him was visibly diminished. Yet his mental
faculties remained unaffected, except in the slight particulars
already mentioned. The placid, undisturbed routine of home
life gives nothing further to record until the autumn came — the
season prophetic of decay. As the year declined to rest for its
night of winter there were significant indications that so his
earthly course was slowly fading to its rest, in harmony with
nature.

Disease, which long, resourcefully and manfully he had
baffled in its progress, was now at length relentlessly grappling
with a closer grip upon the frame enfeebled by the weight of
years, the vitality exhausted by long duration of the conflict. If
he recognized this himself he did not speak more of the approach-
ing end than he had been accustomed to do in the preceding years
of waiting. With full knowledge of the nature, course and final
phases of his malady, he was always expectantly ready for the
foregone conclusion. He knew for years before that this might
come suddenly, and the alternative forms in which it might
appear. Such knowledge disturbed him not a whit, and he would

521

522 DANIEL McKEILL PAKKER, M.D.

as calmly speak of the physical aspects and prospects of his case
as if another were the subject and he only the interested physician.

As for the spiritual side of his situation, he had long pre-
served that quiet and assured demeanor of expectant fortitude
and faith which is expressed in the language of the patient
patriarch: "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till
my change come " ; and, again, in the language of the militant
apostle who, in his old age, wrote : " For I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I
have committed unto Him against that day." There was no
standing room for disturbed thought here.

Suddenly, in mid-October, though not without some earlier
warnings, there appeared an aggravation of his more serious
symptoms, which foreboded that the end might now be nearer
than supposed. This seemed to pass away, but the rally of his
shattered strength was illusory, and about the 22nd of the month
he began to fall into periods of mental lethargy, not long con-
tinued at first but gradually lengthened, and deepening into a
state of semi-consciousness. Some days later there were hours
of what seemed total unconsciousness, and then it became appar-
ent that soon, in the most merciful form which the termination
of his disease could assume, the poison which had been slowly
sapping the worn-out forces of nature must dominate the brain,
and he would lapse into the condition of diabetic coma — com-
plete, and final. And so it proved.

I reached his bedside on the evening of October 26th — the
first day in which he had not risen as usual to occupy the accus-
tomed chair in the sitting-room upstairs. He was then quietly
lying in a lethargic state; but when I spoke, almost immediately
he roused himself, whispered words of welcome and endearment
and asked me : " Where is Fred ?" He seemed to understand
the conversation which went on about him, but had evident diffi-
culty in shaking off the torpor that was on him, scarcely partici-
pated in it, and his speech was hardly above a whisper. He
said he felt no pain. Later in the evening he got up for a few
minutes, and then, more fully aroused, he was able, for the last
time, to transact a matter of business. This required his signa-
ture to a document; and then, for the last time he wrote — his
name.

In the days that followed he rarely spoke, but recognized at
intervals the watchers at his bedside. Once, when asked if he
suffered pain, he wearily answered in a distressful tone: " Pain,
pain " ; but there was no indication of severe suffering. At
night he would be restless, and several times was under the influ-
ence of delirium, fancying he was being detained against his
will in hospital, and once, apparently, that he was on shipboard

FROM LIFE TO LIFE 523

and was being prevented from getting into a boat to leave the
vessel. At suek times, though never violent, he would exert
unnatural strength, his voice would resume full power, and the
old-time strong will, with the habit of requiring obedience, would
be asserted.

His old friend Dr. Thomas Milsom, who has lately followed
him into the eternal rewards of a well-spent life, a physician
much regretted and beloved, did all that could be done to smooth
the last brief stage of life's passage. Miss Sarah Kline, whose
assiduous attentions in assisting my mother and sister he recog-
nized, was the last person to whom he consciously spoke. My
sister Mary was detained in Toronto by domestic cares. My sister
Laura, with her husband and children, was in Europe. There
remained of the family to watch and wait only my mother, my
sister Fanny and myself.

On Saturday, the 2nd of November, coma, like an artificial
anaesthesia, shut out the closing scenes from the cognizance of
the sufferer, casting its benign shadow over the intellect, and
death was claiming the exhausted bodily frame as its own. He
never regained consciousness, or recognized any of us, nor could
he now take any more of the slight liquid nourishment which
he had been receiving. Thenceforward there was merely the
passive resistance of what remained of a vigorous constitution
against the progress of dissolution. He lay for the most part
quietly, his eyes half closed ; but sometimes, especially during
the night, would make feeble, groping efforts to rise from his
bed, as if mechanically the sinking energies of his indomitable
will power and strong vitality resented the near approach of the
unconquerable conqueror of all mankind and fain would vanquish
him.

On Monday, the 4th, in the afternoon, his breathing grew
suddenly very rapid, then somewhat slower but more labored,
and stertorous. This seeming indication of the approaching end
passed off, and again he breathed naturally. Soon after four
o'clock I left the room for a short time, when I was recalled by
a quick, agonized exclamation of my mother: "Come, I think
he is going!" There was now heard in the breathing the unmis-
takable sign of the end, and the ashen grey of death was on the
face. He lay peacefully, restfully, his shoulders high upon the
pillows, his head erect, seeming to look death in the face intently
and unafraid, and yet to peer expectantly beyond. Though to
all external appearance he was still unconscious, it was as if the
weary, slumbering wayfarer heard in his dreams the voice of
Him whom he trusted say: "Seek ye My face," and answered
from the inner consciousness of a yet abiding and unshaken
faith : u Thy face, Lord, will I seek." I held both hands with

524 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

one of mine, watching fixedly. There was no movement indica-
tive of any pain or struggle. For perhaps five minutes after
my return to the bedside he breathed slowly and heavily; then
there was a pause of about thirty seconds, followed by one soft
exhalation like a sigh — which was the last breath ; and so he fell
asleep. As the last breath fled, my mother cried : " Lord Jesus,
receive his spirit!" And then, as the eyes of that sweet spirit
opened upon some glorious vision within the veil and saw the
King in His beauty, I closed the sightless eyes of his clay.

The passing of the soul was marked by a circumstance which
cannot fade from the memory of those who witnessed it, and
which impressed the beholders with a feeling that this was not
death, but a translation.

The day had been till then dark, gloomy, with a heavy, black,
forbidding cloud resting low above the harbor and the city as
the day declined. At the instant when the spirit took its flight
and my mother cried her parting prayer, there burst from this
cloud and streamed across the beloved face and form, like a flash
of angels' wings descending to receive him, a glorious flood of
sunshine. Then it seemed that through the waves of this radi-
ance upon him he saw someone, or heard a voice he knew and
some glorious revelation burst upon his soul. For instantane-
ously the features of the dear old countenance, recently so worn,
haggard and distressed in its appearance, changed, cleared and
lighted up ; and with a quick, startled glance of recognition —
such as I have seen upon his suddenly awaking out of sleep when
one approached or spoke to him — there came upon his face a look
of infinite happiness and peace, together with a smile, the half-
forgotten smile of years long gone, answering in its radiance the
effulgence which enveloped him. The transfiguration, for such it
seemed to be, awed us, and awakened an agony of desire to pass
with him unto whom he recognized with that smiling joy, to hear
the voice he heard, to see the vision that he saw.

My mother, my sister Fanny and Sarah Kline were the other
witnesses of his departure — the passing of one of the purest,
bravest, gentlest and most manly spirits that ever has graced
earth by its presence or been welcomed into heaven to hear the
Master's greeting: "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord."

As he remained in his human form with us from then until
the Friday afternoon following, there continued the same trans-
figured expression of the countenance, yet shaded into a sweet
austerity which appeared more fully to express knowledge and
vision. But it seemed as if the hand of death had rolled the
later years away, for we looked upon a face grown younger by
twenty years or more, without a line or furrow left, by age or

FROM LIFE TO LIFE 525

care — the face of my father as I long ago remembered him,
but carved out in purest marble.

During the days he lay enooffined in the western parlor, many
visited that room to look upon his face for the last time. The
rich and the poor met together, the white and the black, men
and women of all conditions, and of no condition; old patients
and pensioners, persons never seen before by me, who poured
forth broken acknowledgments of what he had done for them
and of how they loved him for it. Could these tributes have been
collected just as they were spoken from the overflowing heart
and trembling lip, we would have fuller, illuminating knowledge
of how closely the life now ended had been an imitation of the
Master, in that he " went about doing good." In these few days
and at the funeral service the love of the people for " the old
doctor," the kind counsellor, the secret benefactor, the friend
who never forgot a friend howsoever humble the station in life
might be, the exemplary man, flowed in successive waves of deep
emotion. Strong men bowed themselves and sobbed beside his
body, rained tears upon his face and kissed it. Of the women
it were superfluous to speak.

The burial had been set for Thursday afternoon, but a vio-
lent storm, which rendered the landing of vehicles from the
ferry on the Halifax side impossible, compelled postponement for
a day.

His funeral, on Friday afternoon, November 8th, was, to the
last degree, simple, chaste and solemn: simple in the absence of
all parade and ostentation; chaste in its refinement and arrange-
ment— devoid of any show of music, wreath or flower; solemn
in its offices of religion, and in the universal display of grief,
so real and general that it pervaded the whole assemblage which
gathered in the home for the last rites celebrated there.

This service was impressively characterized by the reading
of three of my father's favorite selections from the Scriptures.
The Reverend Mr. Hockin, of the Dartmouth Methodist Church,
read the 14th chapter of the Gospel of St. John. He was fol-
lowed by the Reverend Dr. E. M. Saunders, for many years
pastor of the Granville Street Church, who offered prayer. The
Reverend Thomas Stewart, of St. James' Presbyterian Church,
Dartmouth, then read the 90th and the 121st Psalms. The Rev-
erend S. B. Kempton, my father's last and much loved pastor,
next addressed the assembly. The following is an epitome of
this address:

" In the decease of our dear friend a rare and beautiful spirit has
gone from earth to heaven. To a disposition naturally amiable and
generous Divine grace gave an adornment visible to all who knew him.
With great industry and care he cultivated the best that was in his

526 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

nature until he attained an excellence of moral greatness too seldom
seen in this evil world. He was a loyal and loving disciple of the Lord
Jesus — sat at His feet, accepted His work, imbibed His spirit, and grew
into His likeness. He has bequeathed to his family and friends a most
valuable and precious legacy, a stainless reputation, a striking and
beautiful example of a godly life, precious memories of kind words and
noble deeds, and a rich store cf prayer in their behalf — ' had in remem-
brance before God.' These we may now overlook or forget, but God will
not. Answer will come in due time to all whom he carried in his heart.

"St. Paul said: 'We brought nothing into this world and it is
certain we can carry nothing out.' This is strictly true, in the sense in
which the writer meant it to be understood, but it is also true, that the
richest asset of our dear friend's life he carried with him — his splendid
character. What Dr. Parker was here on earth, the devout, loving dis-
ciple of Christ, sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God, he is now among
the saints in light. He has not lost his personality. The life he lived
here is his still. It is not as though a drop of water had fallen back
into the ocean, whence it came, or as an electric spark had flashed in
brilliancy for a moment and then vanished.

" Abraham is Abraham in heaven as truly as he was Abraham on
earth. Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration ages
after being in heaven, but their personality had not disappeared.
Heaven does not destroy our individuality, it rather enhances the
beauty of it and gives opportunity for its fuller manifestation. These
' shall shine forth ' in the Kingdom of their Father.

" In all that we can say of the excellence of our deceased friend we
glorify the Lord Jesus. For it was through Him he became what he
was as a man and a Christian. Let us endeavor to follow the example
in our conduct and speech and spirit, of him whom we so sincerely
mourn to-day. We may have the same guidance that led him so safely
along the rugged way of life — if we will but accept. Christ is as ready to
teach us as He was to instruct him; and He will as freely aid us in all
our efforts to live Godlily in this present evil world as He ever has been
to aid others. By His assistance we too may live generous, useful, happy
lives, and inherit glory and immortality in the end.

" Our Lord's words to His disciples, when they were filled with
sorrow at the thought of His going away, are for us in our seasons of
bereavement. He said: ' I will not leave you comfortless, I will come
to you.' And He did as He had promised. He visited His disciples
after His resurrection. He comes to them still. He will come to this
home. But it will not be with ostentation, and signs and omens. He
will come as the morning comes, gently, sweetly, scattering the gloom
and chill of sorrow with the warmth and brightness of His love.
Expect Him. Bid Him welcome. Encourage Him to remain with you."

The service, almost Puritanical in simplicity, yet dignified
by its very character and impressive in its spiritual fervor, was
closed by Dr. Saunders, who pronounced a benediction. It was
altogether in harmony with my father's expressed wishes — and
with himself.

The funeral procession was very large and representative. On
the Dartmouth side, when its head had reached the lower canal
bridge the rear extended far toward the house, on Pleasant
Street. The largest of the ferry boats, from which all other
vehicles were excluded, could not carry all the carriages which
followed the procession of men on foot. At the Halifax landing
hundreds of people joined and followed in his train, while hun-

FROM LIFE TO LIFE 527

dreds more, with bared heads, lined the sidewalks of George
Street. The members of his profession, in a body, joined the
cortege there. Up by St. Paul's, close by the old Argyle Street
house, where so much of his work was done, we bore him, and
by North Street, past my mother's girlhood home, where they
were married, more than fifty-three long years before. At the
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, which he had served and
loved so long, the flag was half-mast high, and the boys, formed
on the street in military array with the male members of the
staff, saluted as the body passed, while the women teachers and
the female pupils stood grouped in the windows at attention.
As we wended our slow progress through the central part of the
city and the north end there was a touching tribute witnessed in
the crowding to the roadside of old men and women to see the
funeral pass, many of them crippled by infirmity and age, all
of them bearing the unmistakable marks of poverty. With bared
heads, silent, reverent, wistful, they stood and gazed upon the
passing bier. Representative of his poorer class of patients and
beneficiaries in the long ago, they seemed with one accord to
have left their humble homes and to have ventured into unaccus-
tomed places to do honor to the dead, whose life in its unstinted
service to them and to their kind had won their gratitude and
love.

In Fairview Cemetery, new and lacking art, but soft in its
harmonies with Nature that he loved, we laid him down beside
the dust of the baby boy and girl gone on before him. Dr.
Kempton performed the brief, soul-jarring rite of burial, con-
cluding with the Lord's Prayer and the benedictory ascription:
" Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to
present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and
majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever, Amen " ; and
all of earth was past and done.

That out of nine grandsons, only Arthur and Allan could be
present to take earthly leave of their grandsire and attend upon
his obsequies, was matter for regret. That the parents of the
others were likewise deprived of this sweet sorrow was also a
regrettable incident at this memorable time.

"We reared no costly mausoleum nor monumental marble. He
had expressly forbidden it, and he prescribed himself the simple
stone which was to mark his body's resting-place, with the words
which were to be carved upon it. In death, as in life, his wishes
gave law to the family; but without departing, we hope, from
the spirit of these instructions, we added merely these words to
the prescribed inscription : " A Beloved Physician " — to indicate,
at a glance, his profession, and his place in the hearts of a com-

528 DANIEL McNEILL PARKEK, M.D.

munity which had known his life and loved him. A small, plain,
granite stone shows where he lies, and bears these words :

" IN MEMORY OF

daniel McNeill parker

BORN

at windsor, n.s.
april 28, 1822.

DIED

AT DARTMOUTH, N.S.

NOV'R 4, 1907

AGED 85 YEARS

A BELOVED PHYSICIAN.

The tributes paid his memory in the funeral, and in very
many letters received after his death by my mother from all
classes of persons and from many lands, were remarkable, con-
sidering that he had outlived most of the contemporaries of his
active life and had been so long retired from public notice. The
letters, being so largely personal to my mother, it were perhaps
better to withhold. They are so numerous, and so varied in their
testimony to the love and admiration which the individual
writers had for my father, that any selection at all representa-
tive of their character could scarcely be made. Yet, I venture
to choose five which are representative of his friendships, and of
the universal love which was cherished for him. The writers
are: Dean Bullock; Sister Agnes Gertrude, of the Halifax In-
firmary ; Dr. John Stewart ; Sir Charles Tupper, Bart. ; and
Mr. Henry G. Mott, formerly of Dartmouth.

" 76 South St., Halifax,
" November 6, '07.
"My Dear Mrs. Parker:

" You will find it easy to believe that our deepest sympathy is with
you in the great sorrow that has oome into your home, and that our
prayer, ' God 6omfort you in your bereavement,' goeth not forth out of
feigned lips.

" The name of Dr. Parker has been a household word in our
family for many a year — the genuine affection our dear mother had for
him, both as friend and physician, has been shared by all the children,
and his gentle ministries) will ever be to us a pleasant, grateful, and
honored memory.

" It is not only his intimate, personal friends who are sharing your
sorrow — his departure is a loss to the whole community, for I know no
department of social or public life that is not to-day poorer by the with-
drawal from it of his wholesome influence, and every citizen of his
native province has cause to be a mourner for his ended beautiful life.

FROM LIFE TO LIFE 529

" We have respected, though reluctantly, the special request that no
flowers be sent, for it would have afforded us real satisfaction to lay a
few white blooms upon the coffin of our friend— as our fitting tribute to
a man, who through his long career ' wore the white flower of a blame-
less lite.

"May the good and gracious Father in whose safe keeping your
husband rests be to you a very present help in your time of need, 'and
in addition to the Divine consolation of His grace,

May all love, His love unseen but felt, o'ershadow thee,
The love of all thy sons encompass thee,
The love of all thy daughters cherisih thee
Till God's love set thee at his side again.'

"Believe me, dear Mrs. Parker,

" Yours in sympathy,

" Hebeb Bullock."

"Halifax Infibmaby,

" November 7, 1907.
"My Dear Mrs. Parker:

" In this your great hour of sorrow you will receive many messages
of heartfelt sympathy, but may I be permitted to say I feel none can be
more sincere than those of the Sisters of the Infirmary, where for so
many years your dear husband cheered and comforted them in their
arduous work.

"His genial manner and kind words did much, yes, very much,
towards lightening the burden inseparable from the pioneer days of this
institution. But though he has gone from us, his great and noble desire
to help poor suffering mankind has left its impress on the hearts of
those who knew him and so ' his works live after him.'

" To you, dear soul, and to Mas Fannie and his other beloved
children has come the o'erwhelming sorrow of parting, but let us ever
look up and beyond to that day when we shall again be united to all our
dear ones, in that land where partings never come and the weary are at
rest.

" With kind love from Sisters Austin, Francis, and all our Sisters
to you, and Miss Fannie,

" Believe me sincerely yours in our Lord,

" Sister Agnes Gertrude."

" 14 Chalmers St.. Edinburgh.

" Tuesday, November 19, '07.
" My Dear Mrs. Parker :

" I have just learned of your great loss, and I feel that I must write
a line to tell you how much I sympathize with you and your family in
your bereavement.

"When I said good-bye to Dr. Parker in the end of March, I fully
expected to see him again. It did not appear to me that he had failed
much during the year.

" But, considering his age, and his strenuous life, and the ailments
which troubled him during these last years, the end, I suppose, cannot
have come upon you quite unexpectedly.

" I had not heard that he was weaker than usual, until last week,
and then I feared the news the next mail would bring.

" I feel, and I know that I have lost a very kind friend, and I
grieve to think that I shall see him no more on earth.

"I have no words to tell you how much I admired and respected
your husband. His invariable kindness to me touched me very deeply,
but even had I not come so closely in contact with him as I did. I could
not but love him.
34

530 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

" To my mind he was the ideal of what a medical man should be.
His calm, gentle face and his sweet kind smile attracted me from the
very first, and his high and noble character, his keen interest in every
department of our profession and the kind and modest way in which he,
who had more experience than any of us, would take part in the dis-
cussions at our society meetings, set a pattern for us all.

" There is no one left to take his place. And I am sure that
although he retired from active practice, he still wielded an influence;
for his name and fame were in all the country, and we who came after
him must have felt inspired to follow in his path.

" And we must not grieve too much for his loss. That would be
selfish. He is now happy before the God whom he loved and served
with the strength of his whole life.

" With kindest regards, believe me,

" Yours very sincerely,

" John Stewart."

" Ravenscourt, Winnipeg,

"November 10th, 1907.
" My Dear Mrs. Parker :

" I was greatly distressed when Mrs. Fullerton to-day brought me
the Halifax Herald announcing the death of your dear husband and the
dearest and most beloved friend I have ever known. A few months
younger than myself, we met at Horton Academy more than seventy
years ago. We became closely attached friends, and from that time to
the hour of his departure to a better world not the slightest cloud has
ever for a moment dimmed our intimate association. I have read the
glowing eulogies of the Halifax Herald upon his life and character,
public, professional and personal, every word of which will be endorsed
by all who knew him. How deeply I sympathize with you no words
can tell. I have been anxiously looking forward to the time when I
could visit my dearest friend, but the serious and severe illness of my
dear wife since May last has prevented my having that great pleasure.
My son Willie has several times told me of his recent visit to your hos-
pitable home and the wish and hope expressed by my dear friend to
me, alas! that can never be. After a long life spent in discharging
every public and private duty he has been called to receive in a better
world the reward of a just man made perfect. What a comfort it must
be to your bereaved heart to know that his life of devotion to every
Christian duty leaves no doubt of his eternal happiness. My wife and
sons join me in tendering our" sincere and deep sympathy to you and
your family. Believe me, my dear Mrs Parker, to be

" Ever yours faithfully,

" Charles Tuppeb."

" St. John's, Nfld.,

" November 9th, 1907.
"My Dear Mrs. Parker:

" This week's home letters told me of the serious illness of the
doctor, and the papers by yesterday's mail announced the end. I hope
you will allow me to express, at this earliest opportunity, the very
sincere sympathy with yourself and family which my heart prompts.
Words of mine would but weakly convey the worth of our dear old Dart-
mouth doctor, or estimate the sorrow that is being expressed and felt
at this time.

" In the good Providence of God it was ordered that the days of his
years should greatly exceed the span allotted to man, so that ' he has
come to his grave in a full age, like as the shock of corn cometh in in
his season.' Aunt Kate's letter told me that ' he was now quietly slip-
ping away; a good man going to rest.' This is a consoling thought, and
suggests, as applicable, words from the Golden Legend:

FROM LIFE TO LIFE ' 531

" ' Time has laid his hand
Upon my heart, gently, not smiting it,
But as a harper lays his open palm
Upon his harp, to deaden its vibrations.'

"The purpose of this letter is to express my sorrow at the removal
of one who was very kind to me and mine in the days that are gone,
and sympathy with you in time of great grief. My heartfelt prayer is
that the good God who spared the doctor's life so long, and made it a
blessing to so many, will comfort and support you in this hour of trial,
until, in the process of time, that great union shall be effected, ' when
there shall be no more parting, neither sorrow nor crying.'

" ' On that happy Easter morning
All the graves their dead restore,
Father, sister, child and mother
Meet once more.

" ' Soul and body re-united

Thenceforth nothing shall divide;
Waking up in Christ's own likeness
Satisfied.'

" With every good wish for you and yours, believe me, dear Mrs.
Parker,

" Very sincerely yours

" Henry G. Mott."

From a few of the obituary references in the press the following
extracts are culled, omitting, where possible, mere biographical
statements, to copy which would involve long and unnecessary
repetition, while adding nothing to what has been already written
in these pages.

TRIBUTES FROM THE PRESS.

" The death of Hon. Daniel McNeill Parker at Dartmouth, N.S., this
week, removes one of the landmarks of public life in Canada, and one of
North America's most distinguished medical men. He was in his
eighty-sixth year, and had been in the Legislature of his Province almost
since Confederation, retiring a few years ago, when the weight of years
made him feel the necessity of rest. He had been a member of the Govern-
ment of Nova Scotia and many times had an opportunity of entering the
wider field of Dominion politics. He was a gentleman of most retiring
disposition, however, and though his advice on public affairs was often
sought and acted upon, he always declined entering the federal arena.

" Dr. Parker's useful and distinguished life sustained the noble
character of his ancestry. . . .

"His public life both in his profession and in other spheres was
restlessly busy and strenuously active. With all his might he did what-
ever came in his way as duty. The testimonials from those with whom
he co-operated in the various societies and institutions which he served
shows that he was trusted, esteemed and honored as few men have ever
been.

"His practice in Halifax was very large, and during the latter part
of his professional career he was the leader of the staff of city
physicians, who admired, loved and trusted him.

"He was the first surgeon in Halifax to perform an operation with
the use of an anesthetic, having first had it administered to himself _ to
prove its safety. The first case in Halifax of the removal of ovarian

532 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

tumors— which had counted their victims by the hundreds of thousands
—was performed by Dr. Parker, he having assisted Dr. Keith, of Edin-
burgh, the distinguished specialist in such operations. . . .

" While he was uniformly a supporter of the Liberal-Conservative
party, he was never an offensive partisan — indeed never a partisan.
Once or twice he was induced by the Government which he opposed to
withdraw his resignation of his seat in the Legislative 'Council, and
when he did resign, the testimony of his fellow members to his industry,
his good judgment, his fairness, uprightness and integrity were most
flattering.

" From an early period in his profession he became generally known
in the city and in every good direction exerted a most salutary influence.
In his deportment he had the genial and courtly manners of the old
school. A large percentage of his patients were, because of their limited
means, never required to pay fees. His kindness of heart, urbanity of
manners and delicate consideration for the feelings of all classes, made
him a general favorite. His patients loved him. With his name may be
appropriately associated kindness, modesty, honor, fidelity, integrity,
benevolence and all other words that indicate the characteristics of the
highest type of the Christian gentleman. Such true, pure, grand lives
tend to leaven and purify the communities in which tihey are spent." —
Montreal Daily Star.

" After a long, useful and honorable career as a physician, surgeon
and public man, Hon. Dr. D. McNeill Parker died at his residence in
Dartmouth yesterday afternoon at 4.30 o'clock, aged 85 years. One of
the leading medical m'en of the city, speaking of him yesterday, said
that in 1883, when he came into almost daily contact with the doctor, he
was in the very zenith of his fame and occupied a position in the then
medical world that was second to none. He had been a keen and bril-
liant student and had distinguished himself in his course at Edinburgh,
both at the University and the Royal College of Surgeons; and in addi-
tion to his scholastic and professional training he possessed qualifica-
tions that soon placed him high above the average practitioner of his day.
His word, in surgical and medical matters, was final, and his presence
in any serious situation, in either capacity, was invaluable.

" At that time no operation at the Hospital was undertaken without
consultation with him, and even then he had won a wide reputation in
both medicine and surgery. Since that time the two, medicine and
surgery, have been separated, and in the present day students have
great advantages as specialists, which were not possible then. Yet Dr.
Parker, by his zeal, talents and perseverance, occupied a position which
was altogether unique in the medical profession.

" Outside of his widespread reputation as a surgeon and physician,
Dr. Parker was a man of the very highest integrity and unbending
honesty. He was a warm personal friend and follower of Sir Charles
Tupper. About 1867 he was appointed a member of the Legislative
Council, but gave up his seat about ten years ago because of failing
health and overwork. He had intended resigning some time previously,
but retained his seat for a time at the earnest request ot" Premier
Fielding.

" In addition to his many and wearying professional duties, he
occupied several important positions in connection with the public insti-
tutions of the city and province.

"After fifty years of active professional and public life, during which
his name had become a household word for everything that is good, he
decided to retire and enjoy the rest he had so nobly earned. His high
reputation for probity and honesty is well illustrated by the words of
Dr. Wm. J. Almon. Dr. Almon was retiring from active life, and in
addressing his many friends at a dinner they were giving him. said:
' I feel that I am unfit for anything tout heaven, and, when I look at
Dr. Parker sitting over there, I do not feel fit for that'

FKOM LIFE TO LIFE 533

"In all the branches of the art and science of medicine great
advances were made during Dr. Parker's long career, but amid all the
evolutions and advances he was ever in touch with the times; a diligent
student in a progressive science. The appreciation of his skill and
knowledge was shown by his medical brethren in the fact that he has
held all the high offices in the medical societies and organizations of the
Province, as well as the Presidency of the Dominion Medical Association.

" His interest in these associations was always active and practical,
and their growth and stability were due in many cases to his fostering
care. In the course of a very busy life, devoted to the practice of medi-
cine, during which he was the guide, counsellor and friend of many
families in the community, he always found time to identify himself
with the medical charities of the Province.

" Not only were the charities directly connected with his profession
benefited by his aid and counsel, but also the Institution for the Deaf
and Dumb, the Home for the Aged, the Industrial School, the School for
the Blind, and others with the growth of which he was closely identi-
fied. Although the cares and responsibilities of his profession were so
great; nevertheless he did not fail in his duty as a citizen, but occupied
for many years an influential position in the councils of his country.

Amongst his other public services he guided and guarded all legis-
lation referring to the medical profession in such a painstaking and
careful manner that the high and satisfactory position occupied by the
profession to-day is largely due to his untiring zeal and rare good
judgment.

" These services and those in connection with the Medical Board are
fully appreciated by medical practitioners from one end of Nova Scotia
to the other." — Halifax Morning Chronicle.

"... We tender the bereaved family our most sincere sym-
pathy, and in doing so cordially recognize the debt of gratitude under
which his "noble life has placed especially the city in which that life was
spent, and in which he has been so highly esteemed by all who knew
him. Halifax has received into its commercial, moral, social, intel-
lectual and spiritual life the ennobling, uplifting and purifying infix*
ences of a large number of princely men, among whom Dr. Parker holds
a prominent place." — Halifax Herald.

"There passed away at his residence, in Dartmouth, at 4.30 yester-
day afternoon, the Honorable Daniel McNeill Parker, M.D., former
member of the Legislative Council for Halifax, and one who had risen
to the greatest eminence in the medical profession in this Province and
indeed in the Dominion. Dr. Parker's grandfather came from York-
shire, England, settling in Hants County in 1774. He was born at
Windsor, on April 28th, 1822, a son of Francis Parker, a lifelong resi-
dent of Walton, who for many years was one of the leading men in
Hants County. Dr. Parker was thus in his eighty-sixth year. He was
educated at Windsor and Hdrton, received his degrees of M.D. and
L.R.C.S. at Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons.

" He came to Halifax in the late thirties and entered the employ of
Dr. W. B. Almon who, as was the custom of physicians in that day,
carried on the business of a druggist. On the death of Dr. Almon young
Mr. Parker took full charge of the druggist establishment in the interest
of the widow and was thus engaged for a year or two— preparing him-
self the while with a thorough knowledge of the pharmacopoeia. Then
he went to Edinburgh and on his return selected Halifax for his future

lcibors

" Dr Parker continued the practice of his profession in Halifax from
that time till about a decade ago. No surgeon enjoyed the confidence of
his patients -more than Dr. Parker, and few citizens have been held in
higher esteem by his fellows than the late honored member of the Legis-

534 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

lative Council A Baptist in religious professions, he was a staunch mem-
ber of the First Baptist Church and was naturally thrown into close
connection with Acadia College, of the Board of Governors of which
'institution he was a valued member. He was for a number of years a
director of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and always took a
deep interest in its welfare.

"Dr. Parker's business interests naturally took him outside his
chosen profession, and for many years he was a director of the Halifax
and Dartmouth Steamship Company, of the Halifax Gas Company, and the
Nova Scotia Benefit Building Society. Interested always in sick and
suffering humanity, he had a very warm spot in his heart for the Hos-
pital for the Insane at Dartmouth, situated near his own residence, and
for some time was chairman of the commissioners of that hospital. As
a member of the committee on humane institutions in the Legislative
Council he used his influence and voice to plead the cause of the mem-
tally afflicted, and frequent were the visits he made to that hospital,
manifesting his deep interest in the housing and professional care of
those detained there. At different times he was also connected with the
staff of the Provincial and City Hospital, now Victoria General Hospital,
and Halifax Poor Asylum, now called the City Home. In the old days
he was president of the Halifax Mechanics' Institute.

" Though interested in many benevolent and charitable institutions,
though his business acumen was sought for on commercial boards, it was
in his chosen profession of medicine and surgery that his greatest
achievements were recorded. He was the 'family physician' in many a
home, and he was both skilful and sympathetic in his treatment. He
enjoyed a very large and lucrative practice in this city and Dartmouth,
and was frequently called in consultations over the Province, his advice
in serious and complicated cases being much sought after. He was, in-
deed, at the head of his profession, and was President of the Provincial
Medical Association of Nova Scotia, and was further honored by elec-
tion to the presidency of the Canadian Medical Association.

" In politics Dr. Parker was a Liberal-Conservative. In 1867 he was
appointed to the Legislative Council and continued a member of that
body till his resignation in 1901. He was a man then, and ever since,
prized for his sterling worth, his uprightness and integrity and his
great business and executive ability. He was always an active member
of that body and set himself to the task of perfecting any legislation
that came before him. Ever anxious to do what was right and just in
connection with private bills as with public measures, no detail was too
unimportant to be neglected by him. In the earlier days he took an
active part in the debates of the House. Ill-health and the fact that he
could not give that attention to important duties in the Council, which
he felt his position warranted, induced him to tender in 1901 his resig-
nation to the Government. He was not a partisan in his discussion of
measures, and on more than one occasion he had given his vote against
his party when the interests of the Province were deeply concerned and
greater than the ends sought by his party allies. Many and genuine
were the expressions of regret given utterance to by his colleagues when
six years ago he severed his connection with the Legislative Council.
He was one of nature's noblemen. He had a tender regard for the feel-
ings as well as the rights of others, and his dealings with his fellowmen
were grounded on justice. ' Do unto others as you would that they
should do unto you ' was the motto which guided his public and private
life. Though Dr. Parker's life has been a retiring one for the last few
years the memory of his kindly disposition, his eminent services to
mankind and his Christian char'acter has not faded and will not soon
fade. His life was an example to many, and his death is a fitting
occasion for reflecting on the sterling qualities of citizenship evident in
his life." — Acadian Recorder, Halifax.

FROM LIFE TO LIFE 535

"The Honorable Daniel McNeill Parker, M.D., for many years a
citizen of Dartmouth and a gentleman universally respected, passed to
his long rest at his residence at 4.30 Monday afternoon surrounded by
members of his family. For many years Dr. Parker, as he was generally
called, held the premier place in this Province among the members of
his profession. During the latter part of his life, and until a few years
ago Dr. Parker was called as consulting physician to all parts of the
Maritime Provinces. He was easily first in his profession for many
years.

"During the many years of his practice he became endeared to
hundreds of families, who looked upon him not only as their valued
medical adviser but as a treasured friend. His connection with a large
range of activities and his well known sterling integrity made him a
trusted adviser in a great range of business matters. He could always
be trusted.

" Dr. Parker took a deep interest in social and philanthropic work.
. . . He led above all things a truly Christian life, and the
world will be the better for his work. . . .

"In 1867 he was appointed to the Legislative Council, in which
chamber he sat until 1901, when he resigned owing to fulness of
years. In that chamber he ever held the highest esteem of the mem-
bers of both sides of politics. He was not narrow-minded but on several
occasions voted against his party when he thought it was wrong. His
services in the Council were most valuable. At all times his sterling
worth, ability and integrity gained for him the greatest respect, and his
views always commanded deep and careful attention. . . .

" The citizens of Dartmouth who knew Dr. Parker will join with
us in tendering those dear to him who are left behind the most sincere
and heartfelt sympathy. In his death this town loses one of its best
citizens' and a man of a fast disappearing type, honorable, true, tender,
courtly, and unafraid. Howe, Johnston, Tupper, Young, Doyle, Hall-
burton were his friends and contemporaries. They have written a large
page, not only in the history of Nova Scotia but of Canada, and three
at least of their number have won Imperial fame. They were a group
of giants and have done this country great service. To have been asso-
ciated with such men is much, but in his sphere of life, in his sym-
pathies and in his activities he was quite their peer." — Dartmouth
Patriot.

" The death on Monday of last week, at his home in Dartmouth,
N.S., of Hon. Dr. D. McN. Parker, removes at a ripe old age a man
abundantly worthy to rank in respect to natural and professional ability
and personal character among the best men whom this country has
produced. Dr. Parker had reached the age of eighty-five, and had
accordingly outlived most of his contemporaries and the fellow-workers
of his earlier years. Dr. Parker's reputation in his profession, both as
physician and surgeon, was very high, his ability and skill were widely
recognized, and for many years he held a prominent position among the
most distinguished of his profession in the Maritime Provinces. The
appreciation of his ability by his medical brethren is shown by the fact
that he has held all the high offices in the medical societies and organ-
izations of the Maritime Provinces as well as the presidency of the
Dominion Medical Association.

" It was a strenuous life that Dr. Parker lived. His mind was
alert, vigorous, eager, and his heart was quick to respond to every call
of duty. His eminence in his profession brought him many calls from
near and far as well as many invitations to service in connection with
medical, benevolent and other public institutions. The confidence
which was generally felt, not only in his professional ability but in the
value of his judgment in all practical matters, caused his counsel and
co-operation to be much sought after in connection with such institu*

536 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

tions, and so far as possible he responded to these demands upon his
time and strength. The vigor of Dr. Parker's mind and the force of his
will, supported by his fine physique, carried him through prolonged
labors which would have been impossible to most men, but the time
inevitably comes when the stress and strain of such labors tell upon the
strongest constitution, and accordingly Dr. Parker found it imperative,
some years ago, to lay aside the more arduous duties connected with
his profession and his public activities. The last years of his life have
been spent quietly in his Dartmouth home, with an occasional winter
visit to a more genial clime, and though the advance of old age wit-
nessed a gradual diminution of his powers, nature dealt kindly with the
good man, so that he has come to the end without any very serious
illness or discomfort, and it is a satisfaction to all his friends to know
that his mind remained unclouded until the last. His confidence in the
Saviour in whom he had so long trusted and in the verities of the
religion which had been his support and comfort in the noon-day of his
strength remained firm unto the end.

" As a citizen Dr. Parker's life was one worthy of admiration and
imitation. It may be said that nothing which in his judgment pertained
to the public good failed to elicit his sympathy, and he was ready to
aid every good work. Toward the poor he was especially sympa-
thetic and generous, and in countless instances professional services
were rendered without fee or reward except the consciousness of
having performed a generous- deed and the gratitude of those to whom
help had been given. Dr. Parker was actively interested in the political
affairs of the country. Had he desired a political career, he might
doubtless have attained distinction in public life and given invaluable
service to the country. But evidently he judged, and wisely, too, no
doubt, that the sphere of most valuable service for him was to be found
in his profession and its associated activities. He however accepted
appointment to the Legislative Council of his Province, and during the
thirty years or more in which he held a seat in that body he rendered
service the value of which is cordially recognized by both political
parties. When the time came that Dr. Parker felt that he should lay
•aside his political duties, be was persuaded to remain a few years longer
in the 'Council at the solicitation of the Premier of that day, who was a
political opponent.

" In the denomination of which he was for so many years a member
and a faithful supporter, Dr. Parker was admired, loved and trusted in
an eminent degree. Providence has given to us in these Provinces, out-
side the ranks of the ministry, many good and strong mien who have
served the Baptist cause with much faithfulness and ability, but there
is certainly none to whom the denomination is more deeply indebted
than to Dr. Parker. It is ten years and more, perhaps, since he has
been seen at any of our denominational gatherings, and many of the
younger people who now attend those meetings have not known Dr.
Parker personally; hut the people of middle age and older can bear
testimony to the fact that in the days gone by his presence at our con-
ventions was a benediction and an inspiration. It was much to see his
genial, handsome face, to hear his cheery speech, to feel the influence
of his earnest spirit, the force of his practical counsels, and to observe
the careful consideration which he was ready to give to all matters
having important bearing upon the denomination's life and work. Dr.
Parker was deeply interested in the educational work of the body, and
for many years rendered it valuable service as a member of the Board
of Governors. Every minister of the denomination who was acquainted
with Dr. Parker felt that he had in him a personal friend, and one who
was ready at any time to give to him or his family gratuitously the
benefit of his professional skill. By all who knew him he was respected,
trusted and beloved. He was one in whom natural gifts of a high order
had been turned to large account in the service of his fellow men, and

FROM LIFE TO LIFE 537

the favor of God rested upon him. He was one whose character and
whose work has done honor to his manhood and to his (profession as a
Christian. The influences of such a life, so attractive in its personality,
so strong in faith, in love, in unswerving loyalty to truth and righteous-
ness and so richly fruitful in generous and beneficent; activities, is far
beyond our power to measure. Such lives constitute a real word of
God. They bring us a message from above. They help us to believe in
the things unseen and eternal." — The Maritime Baptist, St. John.

" . . . In 1845 he began his medical practice in Halifax. It
lasted fifty years. He was soon carried by forces, that always make
way for their possessors, to the front rank in his profession. But his
large vision of life did not allow him to keep strictly within the sphere
of: the medical practitioner. Christian and charitable enterprises ap-
pealed to him, and received his moral and pecuniary support. No
institution in the city failed to receive from him a helping hand, but he
never neglected his profession. . . .

" After making his fuller surrender to his Saviour, he found his
home in a church singularly rich in culture, piety and pure spiritual
power. Nor were these influences lost on the young physician. He
imitated and absorbed the best that he found in his new spiritual home,
and never failing to look to Christ by whose blood he had been bought,
as the only perfect example to follow, he grew in grace and in the
further knowledge of his Lord and Saviour. Nor did this growing
cease until consciousness faded away, when the call came to him in his
beautiful home in Dartmouth to come up higher into the home whose
lustre eclipses every earthly dwelling place. . . .

" As Dr. A. H. Strong said, after the taking to his rest of the Rev.
A. J. Gordon, of Boston: 'God has taken him from us and we have no
longer with us his great conscience, strong faith and noble heart.'
Great conscience, strong faith and noble heart were central elements
in our lamented D. McNeill Parker, and I am not sure but Dr. Strong
has overstated the matter when he said we have these forces no longer
with us. It is true they are not with us in their full and sensible
power, as they were when their possessors gave them efficiency by the
presence of their great and Christ-like personalities. I knew A. J.
Gordon intimately only as classmate and I am conscious that his power
has never been absent from me since. Thousands and tens of thousands
into whose lives he poured in riper years the riches of his own conse-
crated spirit, must still be conscious that ' the great conscience, strong
faith and noble heart,' of Dr. Gordon are still with them. For forty
years, fourteen of which I stood in the relation of pastor to Dr. Parker,
I have had the freedom of his home, and the openness of his heart. I
feel sure that during the little of time that remains to me, there shall
abide with me a full consciousness of the presence of these noble quali-
ties, influencing and strengthening my heart and sustaining my life. A
great conscience, like a great man, gives careful consideration, not alone
to the more important matters of life, but to its minute details as well.
It was great in its power. This would have been known by anyone who
might have had the temerity to lay a hand on it, and obstruct the
course indicated by its dictates. No man or combination of men ever
did, or ever could have conquered the regnant conscience of D. McN.
Parker. It was proof against all seductions, against all terrors. But
to him this endowment was no capricious, wild helmsman. Like every-
thing else in life it was taken to the Word — the certain ' thus saith the
Lord ' — for correction and full authority. Then it was a supreme power.
By it I have seen his face set like flint in the presence of inducements
to disregard its commands. Then it was, God was in Christ and Christ
in the heart of a faithful servant. Here is the hiding of majesty and of
power. But this conscience ordered and directed his whole life. Had
he offended the lowliest member of the community or the church, and I

538 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

do not know that he ever did, then following that same Christian con-
science he would go to such an one and never rest until Christian fellow-
ship was fully restored. His faith, too, ever nourished by constant
reading of the Word, by prayer and fellowship with his brethren, always
seemed strong, phenomenally strong — stiong in respect to the perman-
ence, the prosperity and the success of every good undertaking. It was
not a faith that begat oppressive gravity in his professional or social
life. No. He was a light-hearted, cheerful Christian. His affable man-
ners opened the way to the hearts of all. I see him now at the door of
the church, on Sundays, after having made hurried calls on the more
pressing cases among his patients, greeting friends and strangers as they
entered the house of God. He was tireless and constant in all such
duties. His great heart! It was an ocean filled with Christ, and oh,
how true to friends, how kind and loving to all. It took him to the
cottages of the poor, as well as to the dwellings of the rich. Tens of
thousands of dollars of charges to the poor were never sought after —
were never paid. No minister of the Gospel ever got a bill from Dr.
Parker. Long journeys were made into the country to attend them and
their families in their sicknesses, but no money was ever taken for it.
Nor was this the only outflow of his noble soul to ministers of the
Gospel. Many a young minister received from him a helping hand.
Nobility characterized the outflow of his heart, fidelity his duties and
his dealings with his fellow men; and rocklike assurance, his con-
fidence in the Gospel of Christ. . . .

" Like the steady outflow of Dr. Parker's love through life, was the
ceaseless stream of his liberality. To him giving was a spiritual
treasury. This true and upright life captured the confidence and
esteem of the public at an early day, and held them firmly until the last.
A prince among men and a prince in Israel has ended a life at eighty-
five and a half years, through which flowed a ceaseless stream of light
and power from Christ the Son of God, the substitutionary sacrifice for
a lost, guilty world. . . .

" The last half century of the life of this servant of God has been
grand, the eternal future of the same life will be glorious in the
presence of his Saviour, and in the company of s) many whose sweet
fellowship he enjoyed on earth." — E. M. Saunders, D.D., in the Maritime
Baptist.

" I would express my estimation of the worth of this brother be-
loved. I have a high sense of his honor, his straightforwardness, and
his gentlemanly bearing. His manner with ministers was felt and
appreciated; he seemed to esteem them for their office's sake, and
attended them professionally without making any charge.

" How constant he was in his attendance at the convention, and how
he hung on hour after hour while the hard business was being trans-
acted! We had a good set of men in those days, with whom we were
closely associated. I refer to Drs. Cramp and Crawley, Dr. Sawyer, Dr.
I. E. Bill, Dr. T. H. Rand, the Higginses, Wm. Cummings, Avard Long-
ley, T. R. Black, A. F. Randolph, Dr. DeBlois and others now enjoying
the rest provided for such men. Those were the days when we had to
wrestle through the /independent foreign mission question, the education
of women, the theological chairs at Acadia, and the bringing in of home-
missions. Dr. Parker was always there in his place, giving his reasons,
and voting to his judgment.

" He was a good specimen of the cultivated colonist. There was
ever that about him that showed he had been abroad. His speech, his
manner, his whole bearing, was far removed from that of the ordinary
professional man in the Provinces. While visiting in the neighboring
Republic, and having many friendships there, he was to the core a
Briton. His ways were English ways.

There was ever a savor of the Christian about him; not that he
obtruded his religion on one; still there was that indefinable something

FROM LIFE TO LIFE 539

that made you feel that you were in the company of one who followed
Jesus. I remember, when being in the old Granville Street Church,
looking around for the Doctor without detecting his presence, and how
just as I was closing my discourse the door opened and Dr. Parker sat
down in the back seat. In his busy days he made it a rule always to
attend the house of God, though sometimes he received nothing more
than the benediction.

"Such men are rare." — D. A. Steele, D.D., in the Maritime Baptist.

" By the recent demise of Hon. Dr. Parker, the profession in this
city and province has lost its most distinguished member — distinguished
alike for his professional knowledge and skill, his high reputation, and
the unusually long period of his beneficent public services. . . .

" If there is one lesson more than another that Dr. Parker's whole
life and beneficent career must impress upon his professional brethren
and his fellow citizens, it is that afforded by his example of unremitting
and conscientious devotion to duty. He looked upon his profession as
imposing upon him a duty to his very utmost for his fellow man, and
this, combined with his goodness of heart and great kindliness of dis-
position, made him an untiring worker in the relief of suffering and for
the benefit of mankind. Whatever Dr. Parker did he did with all his
might, not for hire, but as the faithful and hearty performance of a
duty; and it is quite certain that the case of the poor man, who could not
pay a dollar for advice, got from him the same conscientious considera-
tion and careful treatment as the case of the richest among his many
patients. As a physician, and as a man, Dr. Parker leaves behind him
a memory that is an inspiration to faithful work and rectitude of life.*'
— Maritime Medical Neivs.

CHAPTEE XVI.
CHARACTERISTIC AND GENERAL.

" For in my mind is fixed, and touches now
My heart the dear and good paternal image
Of you, when in the world from hour to hour
You taught me how a man becomes eternal."

— Dante.

Character might be defined as the combination of the intel-
lectual and moral qualities in a man which make him different
from another. It is " what a man is himself." Emerson has
termed it " his organization, or the mode in which the general soul
incarnates itself in him."

Without attempting an analysis of my father's character, an
undertaking too presumptuous, it is fitting and seems necessary to
enquire what there was in his mental conformation, moral attri-
butes, in the very spirit of this man, which made him so remarkable
for virtue, which so signally distinguished him for goodness, kind-
ness and benevolence ; which, apart altogether from his intellectual
endowments and professional achievement, made him so beloved
and won the eulogy of his fellow men, even in his lifetime — as we
have seen.

Doubtless there were prenatal influences. As has been sug-
gested in the chapters dealing with his ancestry, the better and finer
qualities which might well have been derived from a fusion of the
Quaker and the Covenanter blood seemed to be innate in him,
through ancestral inheritance. A nature serious, earnest and
devout was with him congenital. From childhood he was amiable,
affectionate, truthful and sincere. Underlying his innate virtues,
beneath his strong natural qualities, there was from early youth a
deep under-current of respect for the obligations of religion and a
devout adherence to its outward observances. He was reared in a
Christian home, surrounded by an atmosphere of religion, and
was blessed in being born of a mother whose instruction, life and
influence bore fruit in him. Such educational processes of his
tender years developed early a strict regard for purity, truth, jus-
tice, love of his fellow men and a desire to make his life a contri-
bution to their welfare. In youth he matured in mind with
unusual rapidity, though not a precocious child. In subjective
religious experience there is no indication that he was abnormal
in early life. On the contrary, we have seen that he made no

540

CHARACTERISTIC AND GEXERAL 541

public profession of a religious character until he had reached
mature years. But when he did so it seemed as if the pent-up
current of a deep religious fervor, which from early youth had
flowed beneath the surface of his life, generating in him a love for
his God and a spirit of reverence toward the ordinary and external
Christian duties, burst forth with unusual and irresistible power,
flooding his soul with those strong qualities of a true Christian
which adorned his beautiful life and made him, humanly speaking,
a triumph of Christianity.

As compared with other systems of religion, it is claimed for
Christianity as its distinctive characteristic principle that it is not
a creed merely, but a life, an imitation of the God-man, its
founder. Paul of Tarsus, that typical hero of the infant Church,
said, " . . . Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself for me." The last passage from the Scriptures
which trembled to my father's lips ere he passed into the uncon-
sciousness which preceded death, was : " To me to live is Christ,
and to die is gain." Here was the prime factor of his life and the
secret which explains it. Here was the hiding of his power.
Endued richly with this mystic life and power, to which his
natural attributes gave more than ordinary reinforcement, he
obeyed assiduously what Carlyle called " the God-given mandate,
Work thou in well-doing," and with no self -consciousness or osten-
tation, but in all sincerity, humbly and full of all simplicity, he
devotedly cultivated and successfully practised "Applied Chris-
tianity" in all his relations with his fellow men. It is the life
that tells, and not the profession nor the forms of faith.

Let me illustrate here, by a single instance out of many, this
potent, telling influence of the life my father lived. A clergyman,
writing in January, 1899, says : " I was talking with a gentleman
who has evidently been a good deal disturbed as to his faith in the
verities of religion by the literature of the day, and who yet feels
the unrest of a soul adrift. When I referred to something the
Bible said, he replied that there was so much uncertainty about the
Bible that one did not know what to think ; and then he said : ' But
for the life of such a man as Dr. Parker, I fear I should give up
all faith in the spiritual, and lose heart entirely.' " The writer of
that letter adds : " I thought afterwards of the words of St. Paul :
' Te are manifestly declared to be the epistles of Christ.' The
true Christian is evidently the world's Bible. To furnish, by one's
life, anchorage for a soul that would otherwise drift helplessly to
ruin is to have lived not in vain."

And now, as if to illustrate how " he being dead yet speaketh "
in the life he lived, there comes, as I write these lines, a letter
from a college president in a distant land, who says : " "Whenever

542 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

I think of your father there always seems to come a benediction
with the thought and a quickening desire to play the man and do
my little part in the uplift of mankind."

Applied Christianity, to resume Carlyle's phrase, is essen-
tially the application of the Golden Rule in one's dealings with
his fellow men. Herein we may discover more directly how it
was that my father won the love that was so widely borne him
throughout life, and the reverence paid his memory now that he
has put on immortality; for, as a recent writer in the field of
practical ethics has put it : " As we give to the world so the world
gives bac£ to us. Thoughts are forces, like inspires like and like
creates like. If I give love I inspire and receive love in return."
The late Hon. Samuel Milton Jones, of Ohio, paraphrased the
Golden Rule, the supreme law of life, in this way: As you do
unto others, others will do unto you ; and he said : " The Golden
rule is the law of action and reaction in the field of morals, just as
definite, just as certain here as the law is definite and certain in
the domain of physics. ... I use the word love as syn-
onymous with reason, and so when I speak of doing the loving
thing I mean the reasonable thing. When I speak of dealing with
my fellow men in an unreasonable way, I mean an unloving way."
This sweet reasonableness, in my father, was eloquently referred
to by one of his colleagues in the Legislative Council, among the
eulogies pronounced upon his character there after he had resigned
his seat. The reference will be found in the paper of 1906 which
is prefixed to these memoirs. That speaker said, moreover, that
all my father's dealings with his fellow men emanated from the
bed rock of justice, and he spoke truly; for the fundamental prin-
ciple of " Applied Christianity," which my father's life illustrated
and which, reduced to its lowest terms, is love, walks hand in hand
with justice, if indeed the two are separable concepts.

The Honorable W. E. Forster, speaking in the British House
of Commons during General Gordon's last days at Khartoum, said
of him : " God's guidance and government are to him the strongest
and greatest realities of life."

This greatest conviction of that man of strong convictions, the
martyred Gordon, represents exactly my father's fundamental
attitude of mind in all the affairs of his own life, in all the rela-
tions of human life in general, in world history and the destiny
of nations. He was therefore naturally a man of prayer, but
notably so. Who that has bowed with him at his family altar,
where twice daily he convened his household, can forget the sim-
plicity, the fervid earnestness, the trustful directness of the peti-
tions which he was wont to offer then, and how he emphasized the
plea for daily guidance in daily life. The passing guests, whoever
they might be, or however thoughtless of religion and its claims

CHARACTERISTIC AND GEXERAL 543

upon them, shared in this domestic rite of devotion, and I know of
impressions then left upon the souls of some of these which will
not fade to all eternity. At family worship his custom was to
read the Bible in course, and though he rarely commented upon
the day's lessons from the Scriptures, he had a memorable and
unusual facility in applying these lessons in the course of his
prayer which followed. In his private devotions, it is known that
professional work which lay before him for that day, or the next.
was made a special subject upon which Divine guidance was
sought. The cases of patients critically ill were individually com-
mitted to the " Great Physician of body and of soul alike," and
before serious surgical operations he would seek Divine assistance
and commend the result to God. The sweet, childlike simplicity of
his religious nature is seen in this — that to the very close of con-
scious life, after retiring to rest at night he made it a practice to
repeat the childhood's prayer his mother taught him, the simple
verse lisped by so many generations of children :

" Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take;
And this I ask for Jesus' sake. Amen."

As illustrative of his habit of prayer and his fixed belief that
it was indeed " the Christian's vital breath," there is this incident
which I have heard him relate. He was travelling all night by
coach, many years ago, with a man who was a noted sceptic in all
matters of religion and distinguished as a powerful controversialist
on the subject, highly educated and socially influential. This per-
son turned their conversation upon Christianity, and an animated
argument ensued. So clever and subtle was his opponent's pre-
sentation of his views that my father, unaccustomed then to be put
upon the defensive in such matters, was momentarily staggered.
" But," said he, " the promise of Christ to the disciples flashed
at once across my mind : ' When they shall lead you, and deliver
you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither
do ye premeditate ; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour,
that speak ye : for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.' I
put up a word of silent prayer for help and reminded God of that
promise. Then the thoughts and the answers to the arguments
came to me at once, and I believe I had the best of it, for the man
soon after that grew more quiet, and then dropped the subject
altogether."

Thus, as it seems to me, a true Christian's faith, expressed
in terms of love and loving service, and sustained by prayer,
essentially made my father what he was in himself and also what
he was to others. The source and essence of his life's power

544 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

having been thus accounted for, let us glance at some personal
characteristics of the man.

As if to reinforce the influence of his life and facilitate the
conquest of affection from his fellows, nature had gifted him with
a rare and attractive power of personality.

Though not above the average height, he possessed a well-
formed figure, tending to stoutness in middle life, but active, alert,
symmetrical and capable of bearing prolonged effort. His fea-
tures were unusually handsome, his profile " clean cut," with the
facial angle nearly approaching the rectangular, the forehead lofty,
the temples protuberant, the whole head rotund, exquisitely
moulded, large in proportion to the body and strikingly intellectual
in its contour. His mouth was signally expressive of firmness and
decision. The countenance was mobile, capable of an unusual
range and variety of expression reflective of any mood or emotion
which might possess him. Its expression, when at rest, was digni-
fied yet benign and winsome. It seemed to signify a consciousness
of inward strength and peace. The face was one that showed the
soul within. The whole man was an impressive example of manly
beauty, and his very appearance betokened the man he was.

His was a gracious, kindly presence. His manners were won-
derfully winning. In them there was a certain courtliness of
demeanor belonging to the earlier decades of the last century —
something which seems to be becoming obsolete in these days,
when, largely through a saturnalia of free and indiscriminate
so-called education, society at large, but particularly in the pro-
fessions, is becoming transformed by the upheaval of uncultured
lower strata to the surface and the word " gentleman " seems
almost an anachronism. He knew naturally the graces of life,
those graceful courtesies which make life noble, and one saw
in him the little things, those little gracious things that make a
man liked and win the hearts of men. There was about him that
indefinable something, to which we cannot give a name, which made
him attractive to everybody, fascinating to many, without the
display of any art or striving after effect on his part, and which
irresistibly arrested attention, created a personal interest, made
friends and won affection. He possessed a personality at once
gracious, gentle, kind, virile, magnetic and compelling.

Turning to characteristics which may be discovered in his
moral qualities, habits of thought and the ordering of his life :
it may be said at once that he was a Puritan in his simplicity,
which reigned supreme in his home, in his domestic life, in his
customs and in the practice of his profession. It was paramount
in his putting his religion and its duties before all other con-
siderations of life; in his devotion to the sanctity of the Sabbath;
in his uncompromising hostility to looseness of morals, of manners

CHARACTERISTIC AND GENERAL 545

and of conversation ; in his willingness to sacrifice for principle and
conscience. But he was a Puritan without the severity and
intolerance which the use of that designation might suggest to some.

With this simplicity there was necessarily involved truth
and a love of truth. He was therefore intolerant of all sham,
pretence and dishonesty, in private or in public life. He could
" suffer fools gladly," but not a humbug. An example of inflex-
ible honor, uprightness and liberality himself, his large and gen-
erous nature could never brook anything dishonorable, petty or
mean.

Obedience to the mandate found in what Carlyle termed
"the Gospel of Work" — "work in well-doing" — my father trans-
lated into terms of duty: duty to God and man in fulfilment of
" the first and great commandment," and of the second, which
" is like unto it." For in Applied Christianity, rooted and
grounded on love, love implies duty and duty performed
expresses love. Duty, then, was fundamental, and a guiding
principle. With the strictest fidelity he practised this leading
principle of duty as the end of life, God-ward and man-ward;
inculcated it everywhere and made it a household precept. With
him it was a watchword. His own sense of its infinite nature
he powerfully impressed upon others by the very force of his
example. His devotion to duty is emphasized as a lesson from
his career by the Maritime Medical News, as quoted in the last
chapter. Using the word " duty " in its widest acceptation, this
is the great lesson of his life, for it embraces and expresses all
else. What more can be said of a man than that he did his duty.,*

It is a mistake to suppose that, exemplary as is the record
of his life, he enjoyed immunity from conflict with himself and
" the old Adam " of a fallen nature. Temperamentally he was
a man of strong passions, an indomitable will, a hasty temper,
and quickly moved by impulse. Not the least admirable quality
he possessed, therefore, was his power of self-control, with the
strict guard which he ever kept upon his life. " Think before
you speak " he used to say, to check some hasty or inconsiderate
speech or judgment in another; and this maxim of his always
seemed to me a self-imposed, well-tried law of conduct which he
practised in self-government.

" Given to hospitality " he was, but never ostentatiously.
He had not to climb the social ladder through advertisement of
garish show, of rout and ball and banquet. His social tastes,
whether in his own entertainment of friends or otherwise, were
simple and refined. He enjoyed a dinner or a tea party with
chosen spirits and loved friends, or an evening in a full drawing-

*" Religion consists in our recognizing all our duties as Divine commands." — Immanuel Kant.
35

546 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

room spent with music, which he loved, and conversation. On
such occasions the spontaneous gaiety of his nature and the buoy-
ancy of his spirits would assert themselves and he would abandon
himself to a thorough enjoyment which it was a delight to wit-
ness. He was a brilliant conversationalist, an excellent racon-
teur, and would charm his guests with the variety, from grave
to gay, and the rich quality of his conversation, reminiscences
and anecdote. He was an ideal host. In summer, especially,
he loved to entertain in small house parties his friends from
abroad. It gave him infinite pleasure to keep old friends about
him so, but many times he found pleasure as great in giving the
freedom of his hospitable home to patients in a convalescent
stage, for whom he would prescribe the pure country air and
quiet rest which were to be found at " Beechwood." To min-
isters of the Gospel he was particularly lavish, in having them
make his home their own from time to time. IsTor were others
unprovided for, even to old Ben Christmas, the converted but
afterward, alas, lapsed Indian, who occupied the same guest
chamber he would have had were he a paleface chief — and
washed.

Of his home life it seems enough to say that all the recollec-
tion of it is a blessed memory. Strict he was, in claiming obedi-
ence from his children and in the necessary discipline of home
life pursuant to his high ideals for conduct, his lofty sense of
duty and of what was right in all things ; but his household was
ruled by love, and the altogether reasonable nature of his require-
ments excluded anything that savored of exaction. Punctuality
in every duty and on all occasions he insisted on. In himself
this virtue was proverbial. In professional or other business, in
all his engagements and in the routine of his daily life he was
always " on time." This was a phase of that delicate considera-
tion for others which was a characteristic. The only instance I
can recall when he "lost his temper" was when a dilatory coach-
man failed to have his carriage ready in time to catch a certain
ferry boat, and so made him fifteen minutes late for an engage-
ment of importance. Memory pictures him just now, up betimes.
on a dark winter's morning, clad in his dressing-gown, and ply-
ing his razor on a lengthy wooden strop, making his round of
the children's quarters to rouse them out, stooping for his " good-
morning " kiss, and playfully applying the razor strop to stimu-
late the sluggard. Later, there sometimes followed from the foot
of the lower stair after the prayer-bell rang, the quick summons
to the tardy : " Come at once ; come as you are " ; and a motley
group of children, half-clad and half-ashamed, would troop to
morning worship.

Too rarely he allowed himself a half-holiday with the chil-

CHARACTERISTIC AND GENERAL 547

dren. When he did, a drive with him to the delights of " Belle-
vue," or to Cow Bay, with its surf-beaten beach of finest sand,
over which the North Atlantic in its stormy moods drives white-
maned sea horses with resistless fury into the lagoon beyond;
or a winter's afternoon of skating with him amid the wooded
beauties of the Dartmouth lakes — on which occasions he seemed
literally to renew his youth — would be a pleasure that was never
to fade out of mind.

The virtues which he practised for himself he strove to incul-
cate in his children, grandchildren and any others who might be
in the home: simplicity, honor, justice, truth, kindness, useful-
ness for service, economy of time, and the obligation of the fear
of God. On a stormy Sunday afternoon or evening when going
to Sabbath-school had been out of the question, even for himself,
his teaching of the day's lesson to his household, gathered about
the long table in the dining-room, became a pleasure even to the
child most restive, and impatient of the ordinary restraint of
Sunday-school instruction. He wTas an ardent, sedulous student
of the Bible, had a wide knowledge of the book, with a profound
insight into its truths and mysteries, while his qualities as an
instructor upon this text-book of his life and practice it would
be hard to find excelled.

But to enter further on sweet memories of home with him
would carry the writer far beyond the limits of these pages, and
is not within the purpose of this memoir. Much there is that
must remain in memory unexpressed, and much that seems too
sacred to be told in print.

A few other general traits remain to be enumerated, if I
would hold up faithfully the mirror to this rare and lovely
character.

He was an earnest man — very much in earnest, eager and
intent in everything that t>r the time being might occupy his
attention, from a critical surgical operation at noonday to a game
of bagatelle at evening with his children ; in his serious study
of his cases when the midnight oil burned low; in his hour of
relaxation in the hayfield on a summer's afternoon. Whatsoever
his hand, or brain, might find to do, he did it with his might.
He knew no half measures in anything.

His mind was wonderfully active, alert and energetic, turning
with an equal facility to so many diverse things in business and
philanthrophy that he was what one might call a many-sided man.
So numerous were the positions which he filled in connection
with charitable and business enterprises at one time and another,
that in the paper prefixed to these memoirs I have failed to
catalogue them all. All this meant the expenditure of thought and
valuable time; but he was always a standing illustration of the

648 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

seeming paradox that busy men have most time to take on more
work. That the many things which occupied him did not oppress
and distract his mind and energies was due to his admirable
faculty for system and order in all things, through which he was
able to marshal his duties and engagements in respect to time,
place and opportunity. The same genius for method and regula-
tion obtained and ruled in the minutiae of domestic life, and in
the management of professional labors, in all their various and
intricate particulars. Attention to detail was a habit of his life-
time.

He was of a generous nature, and his liberality with his means
was commensurate with his great heart. His sympathies flowed in
practical benevolence into many channels of public and private
charity, and were lavished, but in a discriminating manner, upon
the poor and the unfortunate. But this was without ostentation,
and he strove to avoid anything like publicity in his almsgiving.
Little of the extent of his benefactions to the poor, the friendless
and the outcast is known but to very few beyond the recipients ;
for he let not his left hand know what his right hand did. In sub-
scription lists for charitable objects " A friend " could usually be
recognized as designating this contributor.

In the more private charities of his life, gifts and loans of
money to ministerial and medical students to assist them in their
education were favorite methods of helping deserving young men.
The loans were usually such in name only, and not expected by
him to be repaid, although they sometimes were. " Some day when
you earn the money you can pay me " he would say, and left this
at their option. The former class he helped forward to the goal
for their work's sake. He loved youth, and where he recognized
merit and a sterling character, or thought he did, to the medical
tyro he was always nobly kind. Of such he had many proteges,
to whom he was invariably generous and helpful, and he exacted
no return whether of money or of service. By some of them he
was deceived and disappointed, but this did not discourage him;
he had his reward in the others when he came to see them filling-
spheres of usefulness in the life of his profession.

The case of the late Dr. C. will serve as an illustration. He had
been a young policeman, on a beat which brought him frequently
in contact with my father on Argyle Street, Fired with an ambi-
tion to study medicine, he made bold to entrust his secret to the
Argyle Street doctor, for whom he had conceived a great admira-
tion, and to seek advice from him. The result of the interview
was that my father sent him to Horton Academy for some further
preliminary education and afterwards took him into the office as a
student, foregoing, as he frequently did, the customary premium of
a hundred pounds for instruction. Long afterwards, when he had

CHARACTERISTIC AND GENERAL 549

prospered, the doctor came to the Hollis Street office, where I
chanced to be, and without explanation handed to my father a
voluminous roll of bank notes. In astonishment the latter said:
" What is this, C. ?" " That is a debt I owe you, doctor," he
replied. " What do you mean ? You owe me nothing." " Oh, yes
I do; " answered Dr. C, " I have owed you a hundred pounds
for about thirty years, and it should have been paid long ago,
but here it is at last." I well remember how my father threw
back his head and laughed, then said, in his quick, decisive way:
"Nonsense, nonsense, C, nothing of the kind!" But he was
evidently moved by the unusual incident. Earnestly pressed, with
broken expressions of grateful regard, to accept the money, kindly
but emphatically the old preceptor declined to take the premium,
which, as he said, he had never thought of as a debt and had
forgotten. Several times was the money moved back and forth
between them on the table, and then with real reluctance it was
taken by this appreciative pupil when almost forcibly thrust into
his hand. But, not to be defeated altogether, Dr. C. converted no
small part of his premium into a handsome collection of books
which soon afterwards found their way to the office, and these
could not be rejected without wounding the feelings of the donor.

The widows and children of deceased medical men in poor cir-
cumstances my father seemed to regard as wards of the profession,
and treated them accordingly. It was characteristic of him that
when a noted specialist, in another country, whose advice and
treatment he had once received, died leaving his family inade-
quately provided for, my father should make a substantial remit-
tance to the widow. This he regarded merely as a duty, a debt
he owed, because, as he whimsically remarked, " Dog will not eat
dog in our profession, so her husband would take no fee for
helping me."

But it was in the practice of his profession that he found fullest
scope for his benevolent disposition, and here he never wearied in
well-doing. Poverty, suffering, sorrow were as three keys which
never failed to open the way to a sympathetic attention and skilled
ministry. His was a wider, loftier conception of the profession
than that it was a trade to live by. With him there was no respect
to persons, no discrimination looking to reward when calls came
for his services. Like " pale death " with whom he fenced for
stake of human life, he knocked with equal beat upon the door of
poor and rich and met the king of terrors where he chose his
ground. The testimonies to my father's ministry in humble homes,
the abodes of poverty and wretchedness, are countless ; but its
record is on high. Was sickness caused or recovery retarded by
lack of proper nourishment or body comforts: he supplied the
need, as he would furnish medicine. Was drink the source of

550 DANIEL McKEILL PARKER, M.D.

household misery : he " took the man in hand," labored for his
reformation, and often did he win. Was unemployment found
to be the cause of honest poverty: he looked up some work to do
and gave the means of livelihood. Did death obtain the mastery
over him : he knelt in prayer beside the dying, pointed the way to
victory over death, gave consolation to the parting soul, assuaged
the sorrow of the lowly home. The poor: they were sick and he
visited them; they were an hungered and he gave them meat;
naked and he clothed them. All this for him, was merely duty —
all in the day's work — a debt he owed his Lord ; but how cheerfully,
how unselfishly, how lovingly discharged ! As one ponders* it,
conviction comes that here was indeed the crowning beauty of his
life, because it is here this man most evidently reflects the man of
2STazareth.

Ministers of the Gospel, and their families, were always
attended free of charge. His classification of " the poor," who
were not to be charged, was extremely wide. To one familiar
with the work of his office, it would sometimes seem that this was
not the office of a physician but a free dispensary. His ledgers
tell a tale in graphic form. Down their columns the words " poor,"
" no charge," written by his hand across the face of entries when
he would be making out accounts to render, or merely nominal
charges entered, occur so often that one is at no loss to compre-
hend the disproportion between the extent of his practice as
recorded there and the income which it yielded — comparatively, a
pittance. System required the record of the work; charity
expressed it not in terms of dollars. The sending of a receipted
bill, an enclosure of money in lieu of one, or the thrusting of a
bank note into a poor patient's hand when a bill was asked for,
were samples of little tricks of charity, beneficent practical jokes,
which seemed to amuse and gratify him. Once I was in the office
when a poor old clergyman, long under treatment, but then cured,
asked what was the amount of his bill. " Yes, I'll get it for you,"
said his physician, retiring to the inner office. Returning quickly,
he placed in the old gentleman's hand a ten dollar " bill " and
closed his fingers over it. Overwhelmed with emotion, the patient
struggled to express himself, but was gently taken by the shoulders
and with a laugh thrust out into the lobby. " There, there,

Mr. , that is your bill. I am very busy now ; good morning "

— and the bill was* settled.

He was notably modest, retiring; shrinking from public notice
and from comment on himself and upon anything he might have
done which naturally would attract attention. Vanity or self-
appreciation was foreign to his nature. In the humility that
possessed his spirit he seemed to be quite unaware that profes-
sionally, or by force of character, he was distinguishable in any

CHARACTERISTIC AND GENERAL 551

respect from any of his fellows. To himself, he was naught else
but a mere man trying to do his duty in the sphere where his
God had placed him. If he was successful in saving ;a life, or
accomplishing any good, and this was mentioned in his presence,
he disclaimed any credit, attributed it to the blessing of God upon
his efforts, and turned the conversation from himself. Though
quietly grateful for appreciation, anything like praise was dis-
tinctly distasteful to him.

Yet, modest and humble as he was toward self, he was force-
ful, masterful in disposition, of marked physical and moral cour-
age, and a born leader of men. He dominated the counsels of his
fellows in many spheres of service and left upon all with whom
he worked or shared responsibilities the impress of his person-
ality, strong for the right, stimulating to effort, inspiring to
action. He could be overcome, but would not fail.

On the physical side, there comes to me now the scene when,
in 1875, after the harbor had been sealed with ice for several
weeks the boats of the Ferry Company, of which he was the
president, were to be set in motion again, if possible, and the
manager and others thought that this could not be done.
Convinced that the strong north wind then blowing would free the
boats at Dartmouth if a channel were cut far out as he suggested,
my father overruled their view of the situation. Brushing them
all aside, and seizing tools himself, he ordered a gang of men to
follow him. Out on the breaking ice he led them, on a bitter
afternoon, fell once into the icy water, was rescued by his men,
marked out his cut beyond, worked with the men, directing every-
thing, and next day had the satisfaction of seeing the ferry ser-
vice once more in operation.

An instance of his physical courage and the force of his very
personality is related by my mother. They were returning late
one night from " Bellevue " and took their way to Argyle Street
along Barrack or South Brunswick Street. Here, before a house
which was a low resort for abandoned characters, their attention
was arrested by loud noises indicating a fight within, and by a
little boy crying bitterly out on the sidewalk. The child told
a story of ill-usage and how he had been thrown out of the house.
Filled with righteous wrath, and taking the boy up in his arms,
my father burst into the house upon a scene where a roomful of
soldiers and denizens of this disreputable quarter, men and women,
were engaged in a fierce drunken brawl. Striding into the midst
of it, sternly and in peremptory tones he demanded order; then
holding up the boy, called " Whose child is this ?" Instantly the
tumult ceased. They knew him, and such was their respect for
him and their sense of shame in his presence, that not only was
there an immediate calm, but soldiers and civilians slunk from

552 DANIEL McNEILL PAKKEK, M.D.

that presence and cleared the room without one word. A woman
owned the child as hers, and after administering a severe rebuke
to the keepers of the place mj father resumed his way, afterwards
sending up an officer of police to see that all continued right.
Perhaps to the grandsons, as it does to me, this scene will recall
the " ignobile vulgus " in Virgil's vivid relation of Neptune calm-
ing the waves, and the lines :

" Turn, pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem
iConspexere, silent, arrectisque aurrbus adstant;
I lie regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet."

That he was public-spirited as a citizen sufficiently appears
from the preceding narrative and its testimonies from other pens.
But it remains to be said that, in an imperial sense, he was
intensely patriotic, with an ardent love of the Old Country, its
institutions and what the Crown of Britain stands for. He had
that old-fashioned form of patriotism which found expression in
deep personal loyalty to the sovereign and the royal family. The
following incident may serve to illustrate this. When it was
known in Halifax that the Prince Consort was seriously ill, as
the result of exposure while laying the cornerstone of an Edin-
burgh public building in 1861, my father's concern and distress
of mind were acute. In December, learning that the mail packet
from England was coming up the harbor, he drove full speed to
the head of the market wharf, and as the ship passed close in he
stood up in his carriage, waving his whip to attract attention,
and hailed the captain on the bridge : " What news of the Prince ?"
" He is dead, doctor," was the answering hail. This, I believe,
was the first announcement of the news in Nova Scotia. My father
sank down in the carriage as if he had received a blow. Speaking
of it afterwards, he said, " My first thought was : what will become
of those boys !"

When the last war in South Africa was in progress, I never
saw anyone so concerned as he was for the success of the British
arms, so mortified by the blundering of British officers and the
mishandling of brave men to their undoing. It was new and
inexplicable to him to read in the press despatches, which he fairly
devoured, of wholesale surrenders of British troops. He would
throw down his paper when it came to this, spring to his feet
and pace the room with flushed face and flashing eyes, his lips
quivering with suppressed emotion. The war, to him, was made
inglorious by such incidents, and his pride of country was severely
bounded.

Canada, as yet, was young to him. Proud as he was of it, and
warmly devoted to the little Province that was his own, his love
of country was colored by United Empire Loyalist traditions and

CHARACTERISTIC AND GENERAL 553

found headquarters, so to speak, where old-time colonists located
" home " — the old home-land.

I need not dwell upon his inflexible conscience and its power,
his exalted sense of what was right and what was wrong. This
phase of his character shades into those attributes of the man
which I h,ave already designated as fundamental. He brought to
the judgment seat of conscience the very minutiae of life. Con-
science judged righteous judgments for his guidance, because his
God was on the throne of his life and guided conscience. Dr. E. M.
Saunders, in the tribute which is found in the last preceding
chapter, has touched this chord, which, vibrating sweet and full
and strong throughout the harmonies of the life we now consider,
blended with compelling power into the very motif of that life.
There remains to be suggested that it is men endowed as he was in
this particular respect and given to the cultivation of conscience
as was he, who make and purify the public conscience by the very
impress of their own upon society. Of such are the leaven and
the salt. Faith wanes, society decays without their influence.
They are too few.

There were two characteristics of my father which I cannot
refrain from mentioning here. They are worthy of all respect
and of imitation, none the less so because they appear to be rather
uncommon. These may seem, to some, insignificant ; but there
is nothing little to the really great in spirit, and it is frequently
the little things in conduct that most graphically illustrate the
man. Especially is this true in the domain of conscience. He was
an inexorable debt payer. He thought it wrong to owe money,
or to purchase anything which could not be paid for at the time.
This extended to the smallest current accounts in his domestic
economy, and even to the harassing of tradesmen who were slow
in rendering him their bills. " Keep out of debt, no matter what
it is," was one of his maxims; and he would illustrate to his
family the consequence of its neglect, from the history of many a
family he had known. Promptness in the discharge of all duty was
the other trait I have in mind ; the performance of any work on
the day when it was due, the doing of the hard things first, and
at once. Often would he quote, and enforce by example, the some-
what trite but much neglected rule: " Never put off for to-morrow
wh,at you can do to-day." By its observance his own work was
always ready and on time.

Though I would hesitate to enter upon any discussion of his
qualifications in a professional respect, or of the elements of his
success in the profession which he adorned, yet there were
certain characteristics made manifest in his practice which, as
tending to explain success and deserving of imitation, it will be
well to notice. It must be premised, of course, that the main

554 DANIEL McKEILL PAEKEE, M.D.

elements of success in his professional career were not of his
own choice or discoverable in his methods. The most successful
physician, or the surgeon of the lion's heart, the eagle's eye, and
the lady's hand, like a true poet, is born, not made. So, the
fundamental qualifications for his profession, which most radically
distinguished him, were constitutional, or of his very organiza-
tion. As Emerson expresses it, the calling was in his character.
" Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call."

In his professional labors, he impressed one as being filled
with a deep-seated, constant, and, on occasion, anxious sense of
responsibility for the great interests, the issues of health, of life
and death, which were entrusted to his care. It was his duty
that such interests should not suffer. Here conscience reigned
supreme. It colored every endeavor, every phase of him as a
practitioner. Success for any personal fame or emolument that
might come to him out of it all never seemed to him a factor in his
work.

He was remarkable in the untiring industry bestowed upon
his cases in study and research. He had that infinite capacity for
taking pains, which is called, by the short-sighted, genius. After
the hardest day of work, night and the small hours of the succeed-
ing morning would find him seated at his table strewn and piled
with books, the latest medical periodicals and his own case-books —
searching out, absorbing knowledge for application to his current
practice, or deep in thought evolving some expedient for the
morrow, or sometimes merely reading " to keep up." His pains-
taking thoroughness was nowhere more conspicuous than in his
methods of arriving at a diagnosis. The patient, and others who
could testify, were exhaustively questioned and cross-examined
upon symptoms, their origin and progress, personal and family
history, habits of life, diet, and some things that to the unknowing
would appear irrelevant. Careful notes of information so derived
were made and afterwards transcribed into a case-book. The
many volumes of these books which he accumulated, annotated
with records of the treatment and results obtained, became his
text-books of experience, most valuable to him and a working
reference library in themselves. His thorough-going physical
examination of a pfatient was equally remarkable. Having
" suffered many things of many physicians " in my own person,
both in the United States and Canada, all of them eminent men,
I have found but one out of all the number who was comparable to
my father in point of thoroughness in the two respects which I have
mentioned. Since his death this same characteristic of him has
been incidentally mentioned to me by several of his patients as
a circumstance in his methods which impressed them. In treat-
ment, both as surgeon and physician, he was quick to think,

CHARACTERISTIC AXD GENERAL 555

fertile and ready of resource, never at a loss to know what should
be done, and how to do it on the moment. But there is a sealed
portal here through which it is not given unto us to enter with
him. We cannot discuss or illustrate the details of actual medical
practice, nor follow within the arena of the operating room. His
inviolate reticence on all these things formed part of his code
of honor and marked his lofty sense of the ethics of his calling.
The limitations of any writer not of the profession would, at all
events, forbid intrusion here.

Yet of the open, known and conspicuous traits of this physician,
moving from house to house, alert and eager in his ministry of
healing and good will to men, there is somewhat yet to say. That
subtle, indescribable thing which we call personal magnetism was
in him a quality decidedly pronounced. I do not mean that he was
conscious of any power over patients through what is called animal
magnetism or hypnotism, though by the exertion of his compelling
power of will and the habit of command he would frequently
and beneficially arouse to self-control, and dominate the weaker-
minded, the neurotic patient or the victim of hysteria. But uncon-
sciously to him the mere charm of his kindly, genial, assuring,
conquering personality wrought irresistibly upon the minds and
sensibilities of patients, securing confidence, begetting hope and
winning, love. The sufferer felt at once that here was a man
surcharged with tender sympathy, one who fain would share the
burden if he could. A gentle, tireless solicitude, that was
brotherly toward the elder, fatherly to the younger patient, was
evidenced in all his actions in the sick-room, stamped in the very
expression of the countenance and radiating in the sunny smile
which, even as it lighted up his face, appeared to shed an influence
of bright content about the pillow of the sick. His very presence
would become a source of seeming strength and courage to the
sufferer, who, impatiently awaiting the quick, springing footsteps
in the hall, the cheery greeting and the laughing pleasantry for
the family below, would often say: "It was like sunshine in the
room when he came in." The very tone and manner of the habitual
query : " How do you feel to-day ?" or the mere gentle touch of
" the lady's hand," while inspiring trustful hope, bore in upon
the consciousness a sense of that quality of sympathy which is
only born of love. Yet, gentle, tender, full of sympathy as he
was, he was most decided with the patient and the household,
firm, and would enforce obedience .as one who had the right.
He was a noble type of the sympathetic physician — unhardened in
his sensibilities by many years' familiarity with human suffering.

Even a chance sight of suffering in a public place moved him
to kindly sympathy, and relief. Some one told me, not long
since, that he saw my father once on a ferry boat attracted by a

556 DANIEL McNEILL PARKER, M.D.

stranger, evidently poor, whose ill-clad, wasted frame was racked
by a distressing cough. A prescription, hastily penciled, was
handed to this jioor fellow, with a sum of money and the kindly,
quiet words : " You must not neglect that cough. Get this made
up and I think it will help you." That was characteristic.

On his seventy-sixth birthday (1898) my mother presented
to him an engraved copy of the celebrated painting, " The Doctor,"
by Luke Fildes. When she had conducted him to where it hung,
he stood long before it, tears welled in his eyes and overflowed, and
he was speechless from emotion. He was an old man then, grown
old amid many just such scenes in humble homes as that depicted
by the artist; but the picture thus strangely, strongly stirred his
sympathetic spirit. In it was the touch of nature that made
him kin to the whole world of human sorrow that he knew, and
knew too well. Who can tell what moving memories of many a like
living picture were evoked from mind by this mere " counterfeit
presentment " of an episode so commonplace in his experience — ■
but rather, how in that hour he lived through again and bore
once more the sorrows of the poor !

A significant feature of his whole professional career was the
uniformly friendly relations maintained between him and all other
members of the profession. On the part of those practitioners
who were most intimately associated with him and therefore knew
him best there was for him a real and warm affection. His kindly,
sympathetic interest in his juniors won their love. His spirit
of unselfish helpfulness found gratification in finding practice for
beginners, and in aiding them, out of his experience, in their diffi-
cult cases. They felt always free to go to him for counsel, or to
make him the confidant of their troubles. To juniors he was
known as " Uncle Daniel," a nickname of affection which prevailed
in the profession, but always reverently applied. Among seniors,
he was a stranger to anything like a spirit of jealousy, of emulation
or of criticism. With him, all were colleagues, confreres — words
he often used. He was wont to emphasize this brotherly bond of the
profession. He manifested this fraternal disposition himself and
was happy in the return of it by most of those who were his con-
temporaries, if not by all of them. The broad, tolerant spirit of fair
play, mutual helpfulness and brotherhood which marked his own
dealings with the whole profession was cultivated in some others
through unconscious imitation. As an examiner of medical
students he had the reputation of being eminently fair in the
character and methods of his examinations; quick to appreciate
true merit veiled by diffidence or embarrassed by lack of aptitude
in expression ; patient and just to all, but not to be deceived by any
glib, impudent pretence.

A not less significant feature of his practice is seen in his

CHARACTERISTIC AXD GENERAL

50 .

dealings -with those who were his debtors for professional service.
Of that large class of persons who, while able to pay the doctor,
are wilfully, dishonestly neglectful of the obligation, sine die, he
was perhaps too tolerant. He never sued for a professional account
but once, and that was when a man denied that services charged
for had been rendered to his family. This was a challenge of
professional and personal honor. A writ was promptly issued —
and the fellow paid the bill. Large sums upon the books went
uncollected, for want of time, perhaps, to look after the evasive
and delinquent, but oftener far, for lack of inclination to do so.
When he closed his practice finally, the books of account which
represented what it owed him were considered sealed forever.
JSTor would he hear remonstrance on the subject. " If any people
want to pay," he said, " they know where I am to be found."
Some did. Perhaps some others thought that he was rich and
therefore not in need of money — a plea for stealing that is much
in vogue. Rich he was. but not in money, which he did not
esteem for self.

When he was gone to his account : " How much did he leave ?
What was he worth '." Thus the prying, busybody, money-addled
world spirit. Well, he left it all ; but what ? The answer is not
far to seek. Marcus Aurelius wrote: " Every man is worth just
so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself."
What was his worth ? His children and his children's children
point with pardonable pride, and gratefully, to the stainless record
of his nobly busy life, to its precious memories, to " a cloud
of witnesses," out of all classes of his fellow men, who watched and
knew that life and felt the power of its sweet beneficence. When
he lay dead, a man who knew remarked : " He was too good to die
rich." According to the vulgar estimate, he died comparatively
poor. Had he been a servant of the time-spirit, this, with his
abilities and opportunities, had not been. But he served God;
and by the grace of God he earned and bequeathed to all who should
come after him the incorruptible, unfading value of his life,
expressed in terms of the worth of things about which he busied
himself : Godliness first. " profitable unto all things ;" then :
" whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, what-
soever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report," if there
were " any virtue " he thought on these things and followed them.

Said Carlyle : " In the being and in the working of a faithful
man is there already (as all faith from the beginning gives assur-
ance) a something that pertains not to this wild death-element of
time; that triumphs over time and is, and will be when time shall
be no more."

Grown gray in labor, the heavy tasks laid down and from all

558 DANIEL McNElLL PARKER, M.D.

mortal labor free, crowned with honor and revering love, he who
is the subject of these memoirs has entered on eternal life, for
Vvhich his whole existence here had fitted him. In mortal life his
influence was great i now that he has put on immortality, it may-
be greater. Though his mortal form be dust, yet " ever near us,
though unseen," the shadow of his spirit will rest upon us, stimu-
lating to reflection and inspiring to action. Though his tongue
be still in death, memory will put a tongue into every gentle, loving
act of his, which will summon us to imitate his efforts and to
emulate his example. Such a man as he rests from earthly labors ;
he does not die. A great orator has said : " How poor this world
would be without its graves, without the memory of its noble dead.
Only the voiceless speak forever." If this be true, no prouder
mound than yonder unpretentious tomb which hides thy dust,
sweet spirit, shall dot thy native land; no voice, clear and per-
suasive from the realm of the voiceless, lead us more nobly on
than thine !

The End.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX " A."

RECOLLECTIONS OF TRAVEL— TWO OCCASIONS WHEN MY
FATHER WAS MISTAKEN FOR A CLERGYMAN.

Contributed by my sister Fanny.

" In the summer of 1893 father and I spent three weeks in
Cape Breton and Guysboro County, going by rail to Heatherton,
driving from there by private conveyance to Guysboro town;
from there we went by boat to Mulgrave, and thence by boat
through St. Peter's Canal and the lakes to Sydney, by way of
Baddeck and Whycocomagh; and then to Mulgrave again and on
to Canso. While at Canso a doctor called at our hotel and asked
for Dr. Parker. Our genial landlady, Mrs. W. by name, said:
" There is no such person here ; but a Presbyterian minister and
his daughter arrived last night by the boat." There was no end
of a laugh on the part of the doctor and father when they met on
the street next day.

"We visited the Hazel Hill cable station, and while there met
the, then, Vice-President of the Commercial Cable Company, Mr.
Ward, who offered us a trip up to Mulgrave on the S.S. " Mackay-
Bennett," in preference to returning in a very uncomfortable and
malodorous small steamer — an offer which was eagerly accepted.
We were royally entertained while on board the cable ship, the
trip taking about four hours. There were on board, besides our-
selves, Mr. Ward, his wife and son, of ~New York, a party of ladies
and gentlemen from Hazel Hill who came up for the trip and
returned the same evening.

" The other incident I recall was in the spring of 1895, while
in Washington. One evening father and I attended a large negro
Baptist church. It was a beautiful building, with a grand pipe
organ, and the music was excellent. The pastor, whose name was
the Rev. Arthur Brooks, a fine specimen of a Southern negro
preacher, gave us, as father afterwards said, one of the best ser-
mons he had ever listened to. His delivery and language were
both fine, and at times he was most eloquent. The deacons,
four in number, sat up in front of the pulpit on a lower platform.
One of them, an old man, with pure white wool, and an extensive
shirt bosom bedecked with an enormous diamond pin, had divers
and sundry naps during the sermon. Before the service began,
36 561

562 APPENDICES

the minister arose and swept down upon father, who shrank from
observation by trying hard to make himself small ; but, alas, it
was of no use. The parson mistook him for a brother parson,
of the white persuasion, and wished him to take a seat in the
pulpit and assist in the service. All I could hear was poor father
protesting vigorously : ' But I am a medical man — a medical man !'
Finally he was left in peace and we enjoyed the remainder of the
exercises very much."

APPENDIX "B."

TWO OF THE LECTURES BEFORE THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTE.

VITALITY.
Session 1846-7.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The choice of a scientific subject, for an occasion like the present,
often causes the lecturer more trouble than the actual preparation of
one after a selection has been made; at least I have found it so in my
limited experience, and when catering for your tastes this evening had
nearly concluded to discuss some dozen, but as each one suggested itself
to my mind it was rejected, not from being void of interest but either
from its having appeared before you within a limited period, or from
the difficulty of rendering it popular.

At length out of the many Vitality was selected, to which I beg
your attention whilst I briefly consider its more important and interest-
ing phenomena. In extent the subject is vast, for vitality, as it relates
to earth, was born with its creation; .the two as to existence are equal,
but whilst, the latter (as is the belief of the Christian world) must
eventually have an end, a period of non-existence, the former looks for-
ward to no such era; its watchword is, and ever will be, the future.
No word or collection of words in any language can convey so much
that is important, so much that is interesting to the thoughtful mind,
as that now under consideration. Its existence implies life, its want
death. Look where you may on the earth's surface, into the depths of
the ocean, or high above either into the atmosphere which bounds our
globe, and on all will you find the word engraven, and that too in
forms so numerous as to be placed far beyond the numerical conception
of any human mind. Even the drop of water which I now suspend
from the point of my finger contains numberless animalculi, and these
are all endowed with "vitality," which, by the aid of a microscope
would, to a certain extent, be perceptible to the sense of vision of any
individual present. The subject embraces much of import in connec-
tion with metaphysics, but it is not my object so to discuss it, but
rather to view it physiologically; and in so doing I shall endeavor to
strip it, in so far as I conveniently can, of technicalities, avoiding
abstruse and unprofitable theories, and to bring it before you in a man-
ner adapted for the occasion. Different definitions of the term have
been given by scientific men, but to these I need not refer, as they, as
well as all who have given the subject consideration, must agree in the
following, viz., that " Vitality " is a power inherent in certain organized
bodies, to resist decomposition and putrefaction, the chemical relations
constituting organization of their particles preponderating over other
chemical relations or affinities, the tendency of which latter is to pro-
duce 'disorganization and death of the bodies in which this peculiar
principle holds its seat: and further, that vital action or life obviously
involves and conveys to the mind the idea of constant change. Thus
we do not consider any being as alive which is not undergoing some
continual alteration perceptible to the senses, though in very many
instances this alteration may be so trifling in its amount as scarcely to
be recognized unless by frequent observation and comparison. One
cannot but be impressed with this idea or fact whilst viewing, under
almost any circumstances, the face of nature. The flowers of the field,

563

564 APPENDICES

the blades of grass which constitute the aliment of, and indirectly
yield " Vitality " to a large portion of the animal creation, are examples
familiar to you all. Our footsteps may crush, or the cold of northern
climes may depress their vital actions, changing the color of the grass
from a beautiful green to a sombre brown, yet a brief period suffices to
effect a visible alteration, for no sooner has their wintry protector,
" snow," been removed than we perceive color and life in all its vigor
restored to them. This then, is one of the many instances in which
change and vitality are to be seen walking hand in hand.

It may be asked what is the condition of a seed which remains
unchanged during a period of centuries, and at last vegetates when
placed in favorable circumstances, as if it had been ripened but the year
before? To this, I would reply, that the seed is not alive in the com-
mon acceptation of the word, that is, it undergoes no change, but is
possessed of the property of vitality, or the power of performing vital
actions, when aroused to them by the necessary stimuli, such as warmth,
moisture and air. Its condition is closely allied to that of a Iranian
being in a profound sleep; he then is not a feeling, thinking man, but
is capable of feeling and thinking when aroused from his slumber and
his mind put into activity by impressions of external objects. The
analogy is more striking, and, indeed, more perfect, if we compare the
buried seed to a human being in a state of "trance," in which it is
sometimes impossible to detect the slightest symptoms of existing life;
and the want or absence of decomposition alone informs us that dor-
mant vitality still holds its seat in the apparently inanimate mass.
From the observations already made you will have perceived that
vitality and life are synonymous terms, and that organization is essen-
tial to both. In attempting to define the one I have given you the
physiological definition of the other; throughout my lecture, therefore,
the two terms will be used indiscriminately.

I have in passing made reference to the animal and vegetable king-
doms, as possessing this principle, and would observe that even in the
lowest grades of each life must exist, otherwise they would be classed
as belonging to the mineral world. The despised worm, which changes
its position only line by line, is endowed with vitality as well as the
highest of the animal creation, not even excepting man, in whom the
most elevated state of organization and existence is to be observed.
Sponge is a regularly organized and living substance, and from its
possessing some of the properties of the animal kingdom belongs to the
same great division as ourselves. The lichens adhering to the sides of
rocks are vegetables of a very low order, still they live, vitality mark-
ing their birth and progressive increase. An example of a body or
substance void of life is a stone which is regular and crystalline in its
formation, being composed of atoms aggregated so as to form a mass,
but it possesses not vitality. Change is not inherent in it, and any
alterations that may take place, as increase, etc., are due entirely to
external causes; hence, it takes its rank in the Mineral, or lowest of the
three kingdoms into which naturalists have divided the contents of our
globe. With these preliminary and explanatory remarks I now hasten
to consider the primary and ultimate formation of all organized bodies
possessing vitality, a subject deeply interesting, which was formerly
involved in much darkness and doubt, but the discoveries of modern
physiologists, effected principally through the medium of the micro-
scope, have tended vastly to dispel these, substituting in very many
instances for vague theories the light of established facts.

All substances perceptible to the senses, whether animate or inani-
mate, are composed of an aggregation of atoms almost inconceivably
minute which are combined and held together by " cohesive attraction,"
a power exerting its influence throughout nature, and which, but for the
opposing force of repulsion (this being brought into action bv the
expansive qualities of heat or caloric) would render earth a lifers
void by drawing together everything it contained into one condensed mass

APPENDIX aB" 565

of inanimate matter. But so nicely has the Creator of the universe
balanced these two contending forces that the one beautifully neutral-
izes the effects of the other, and the harmony of nature consequently
remains undisturbed. Animals, vegetables and minerals alike, par-
take of this atomic formation, but how different the result of the com-
bination in each, how diversified in appearance, structure and action are
the three kingdoms. Vitality characterizes the two former, while the
latter, speaking of it as a whole, is a collection of lifeless particles.

In the animal and vegetable worlds these atoms may readily be
resolved into their constituent principles, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and
nitrogen. The three latter are transparent gases, and you are all
familiar with the former under the name of charcoal. At least these
four elementary bodies, chemically combined, compose nearly the whole
of the animal and vegetable structure; a small amount only of iron and
sulphur, with some saline substances forming the residue.

In both these living kingdoms numerous atoms combine to form
vesicles, or cells (little globular bodies), from which arise all structures
possessed of vitality.

It may appear strange to many of you that from particles of matter
so small as to be imperceptible to the unaided vision (measuring only
from 1-250 to 1-1000 part of an inch in diameter), the most majestic
trees of our forests owe their early existence, as well as their present
dimensions, but strange though it may seem it is true, and it will now
be my object to explain to you the development of the higher classes of
vegetables from the cells contained within what is commonly called the
seed, and to trace them from this primitive state to maturity.

Within the external envelope of the seed are two distinct sets of
cells, one constituting the germ of the future tree, and the other its
nourishment— both descriptions, and indeed each vesicle possesses, as
regards vitality, an independent existence, but on the application of the
essentials to germination, viz., heat, moisture and air, the germ or
embryo preys upon and derives nourishment and life from the cells,
which everywhere surround it. This then is the first vital act in the
process of vegetation. The "germ" soon becomes elongated and
changed in character, at the expense of the surrounding cells, when it
bursts through the external envelope, presenting two pointed extremi-
ties or shoots, the superior eventually forming what is known as the
stock or stem of a plant, and the inferior its root. From this period
to the termination of its life, the vegetable derives its nutriment from
the earth and air, the little rootlets, thus early formed, acting as so
many mouths for its future sustenance. We will now fancy the
incipient stem above the surface, and its leaflets expanded and per-
forming all the functions of leaves. How then or by what principle of
vital action has it reached this state, and how after having opened
itself to the light of day does a thing so trifling, which could be crushed
to atoms by our footsteps, become in time the English oak, the Norway
pine, or our own stately forest tree? Why, merely by the generation
of new cells, and the extension of those already in existence, for each
individual cell, the necessary aliment being supplied it, possesses and
inherits the power of constructing others similar in character to itself,
and these again in their turn produce more and so on ad infinitum.
the whole being moulded into form by a law of nature concerning
which we have no knowledge. One of the most surprising facts in
physiology is, that as the mass increases by the formation and develop-
ment of additional cells (these all being precisely similar, as far as
human observation has been able to discern), the different tissues
entering into its composition, should be so diversified in appearance,
actions and general construction. While I can offer no satisfactory
explanation as to the cause I can give you the mode in which these
various parts of a plant are developed, that is to say, I can describe the
metamorphosis of these calls into the woody fibre, sap vessels, etc.,
which enter into the structure of a large portion of the kingdom now

566 APPENDICES

under consideration. And first, let us look at the formation of the
fibrous tissues, which takes place as follows: Numbers of elongated cells
are so arranged in parallel rows that their extremities meet, the one
running into the other, as it were. These, at first independent cells,
gradually by the power of cohesive attraction assisted by the pressure
of surrounding parts and a vital affinity which is exercised between the
different vesicles themselves, assume the form of lengthy vegetable
fibres which constitute the bulk of what we designate wood. The vessels
which convey the sap from the roots to the leaves have an origin in
common with the woody fibre, that is, vehicles produce both structures,
but while the one is a nearly solid elongated mass, the other is a canal
or tube running through the entire plant from its base to its summit.
Here also parallel rows of cells, less elliptical than in the last case,
arrange themselves one upon another with the most nice exactness and
those parts which) coalesce (these being in the axis of the plant's
growth) are gradually seen under the microscope to disappear, the sides
of the vesicles adhering closely to each other so as in the end to form
a perfect tube, adapted for the transmission of fluids. Precisely as here
described are formed the spiral vessels and other tissues entering into
even the most delicate parts of a plant, as for example the leaves or
lungs on which the vitality of the vegetable kingdom so much depends.
The subject of my lecture, not unlike a tree, branches in all direc-
tions, consequently in the short space allotted for its delivery but
a glance, and that a contracted one, can be taken of its more important
divisions.

Nutrition is involved in, and indeed is essential to, vitality, both in
vegetable and animal life. We will therefore, without further preface,
briefly discuss the subject in relation to the former.

While the stem of a plant ascends, mechanically supported by its
skeleton, the woody fibre, the root, takes an opposite direction and dips
downwards, more or less obliquely, towards the earth's centre, bur-
rowing its way through places that you would imagine impossible.
Why these contrary courses should be adopted, by different parts of
the same structure, seems difficult of explanation. Doubtless the influ-
ence exerted on vegetables by light and the atmosphere, may be connected
in some degree with the ascent of the stem, and in this way I would
theoretically account for the conical form assumed by the branches of
trees, as fin the oak, pine, etc. — in which we observe the lowest arms
extending in a horizontal direction, beyond those above, as if for the
purpose of seeking light and air, without the pale of the branches
which surmount them. The descent of the root may perhaps be attrib-
uted in part to its wedge-like form, the progressive increase which it
is undergoing, causing it to exert a mechanical action in its burrow-
ing course, and here it is probable that the attraction of gravity may
lend a helping hand. However, while these hypotheses are not improb-
able, the matter for the present must be referred, with many other
unsettled points in vegetable physiology, to the "Vital Phenomena attend-
ing Vegetation." The roots of some plants are single, while others are
numerous, diverging and extending in all directions from the main por-
tion, as in trees, where they act like so many anchors, chaining, as it
were, the mass above to the one locality, while from their increased
extent of surface, they are enabled to glean from the earth a grealer
amount of nutriment than if there was less subdivision. The spongioles,
or extreme ends of the roots, are alone endowed with the power of
secreting, or absorbing from the earth that which nourishes and affords
increase to the vegetable. All other parts beneath the surface act as
conductors to transmit the nutriment so absorbed, and to give mechani-
cal support to the parts above. These little extremities are possessed
of a high degree of vitality, and without them no plant could exist. They
do not select all matters indiscriminately that come within the sphere
of their action; on the contrary, they exercise their selective endow-
ments with the nicest distinction, collecting and transmitting only such

APPEXDIX UB" 567

matters as are suitable for the growth and life of the structures with
which they are connected. These are, for the most part, carbonic acid,
and water, holding various substances in solution, the less nutritious
portions being rejected and left for other purposes. Thus it is, that after
a succession, of crops, the fields which have borne them become unable,
their nutritive qualities having been impaired, to produce further, and
hence the necessity of a rotation, each one requiring somewhat less of
nutriment from the land than that which preceded it. The loss of
vegetative power in land, and its inability to yield sustenance for a series
of crops of the same description, has been attributed, in part of late
years, to the property discovered to belong to roots, viz., that of excreting
certain substances injurious to the growth of the species producing
it, and perhaps in a less degree to vegetation in general. Thus the
poppy tribe throw off by their roots a matter closely allied to opium.
The deadly nightshade acts in a similar manner — the excretions of its
roots being nearly the same as the belladonna in common use, which,
while it acts in a manner inimical to the repetition of the same growth, is
supposed not to exert such a deleterious influence on other descriptions of
vegetables. At least this is a theory lately advanced, in relation to
vegetable nutrition, which, I doubt not, will be found by further experi-
ment and observation to be in a great measure correct. This then, it is
probable, is partly the cause why wheat cannot be grown in two successive
seasons from the same soil, or at least, if it is, the quality the second
year will be very much inferior to that of the first. It is a singular fact
and worthy of remark, as it is corroborative evidence of what has just
been stated, that a successive change of crops has a tendency to destroy
noxious insects, as those whach are produced by one crop cannot be sup-
ported by another of a different description.

But to return — the Spongioles are cellular, and the material which
they have selected and absorbed from the earth passes from cell to cell
to the body of the root, enters the tubes, or vessels, and by them is con-
veyed to the lungs, or leaves of the plant, where, being spread out in
meshes of delicate vessels, it is acted on by the air and light, the former
receiving certain of its constituents in exchange for others; it is thus
rendered nutritious and vitalizing, and is transmitted by a second and
distinct set of vessels to every part of the vegetable structure. Those
parts, or islands of the plant, which do not receive their supply directly
from these nutritious vessels, absorb it by a vital act, inherent in the
cells composing them, which draws, as it were, the vegetable blood, or
purified sap, from vesicle to vesicle until at length it reaches the most
central cells. It is in this way that the pith of trees derives its nourish-
ment, which is transmitted in a fluid state through the cells composing
their medullary rays, or those lines observed in a transverse section, radi-
ating from the centre to the circumference. From this purified sap are
formed the successive annual deposits, observed in the higher classes of
vegetables, the skin or bark, and the various secretions, oils, etc., which
pervade the different parts of a plant. It is this, its blood, absorbed by
the spongioles, and purified by the leaves, thJat nourishes and enlarges,
that gives to and sustains vitality in the vegetable structure. In short
it is to it (the plant) "the food of life." You may ask how or by what
power it is, that the sap ascends to the leaves, and is again distributed
to every part of the tree, when no heart, or propelling centre exists in
their organization. This is a question easier asked than solved, for, not-
withstanding the great amount of research expended on the subject, we
still remain, and probably will continue, in ignorance as to the true
cause of this vital action. Many theories have been propounded, such
as capillary attraction, vascular contractility, galvanism, etc. Yet I regret
to state that no one of these is based on a sound foundation. All have
failed when put to the test of a correct physiological analysis. It is
therefore enough for me to add as an ultimate fact that such actions do
occur, and to confess my ignorance of the principle on which they are
effected. The foregoing observations are applicable principally to +he

568 APPENDICES

higher classes of vegetables, having an origin from seeds, in which we
observe organization and vitality more strikingly developed than in those
lower in the scale of existence, some of which will now be the subject
of a few remarks.

The Cryptogamic division embraces those plants having no flowers,
such as "seaweeds," lichens, fungi, etc. This class also differs from those
already mentioned in possessing no seeds. In origin they are cellular,
and indeed their whole structure is nothing more or less than an aggre-
gation of vesicles, which do not, as in other plants, undergo changes and
become fibres and tubes, but continue, throughout their life, simply as
cells, endowed with certain vital properties necessary and adequate to
their existence, growth and reproduction. Possessing no canals to con-
vey their nutritive principles from part to part, it necessarily follows
that the cells of which they are altogether composed, must perform the
office of vessels, and this they do most effectually, by some hidden power,
as little understood as the circulation in vegetables of vascular struc-
ture. Suffice it to say, that the aliment, derived either from the earth,
water or the atmosphere, passes in a liquid or gaseous state through
the walls of the different vescicles, nourishing and imparting vitality
to each in its course.

"Algae" or seaweeds, are th'e vegetation of the deep, where they
afford nutriment, and consequently life, to thousands of the animal crea-
tion, making the ocean their dwelling place. Besides they serve other
important ends in nature, such as filling up, by their constant increase,
the beds of rivers, and changing the course of streams and currents.
The Red Snow, discovered by Parry and other Arctic travellers and for-
merly classed among the Fungi, has more recently been described as
belonging to the Algous division of cryptogamic plants.

Lichens possess a low degree of life, and are attached generally to
inanimate masses, as rocks, walls, etc., into the crevices of which their
minute tendrils push themselves, thus fixing the plant so firmly to
the spot that mechanical means often fail in effectually removing them.
But what force cannot do, a limited knowledge of vegetable nutrition
will here effect, for these cryptogamic growths derive sustenance prin-
cipally from the moisture of the air, and if covered, if only for a shori
time with earth, light being absent, death and decomposition follow,
when their 'removal will be easy. I am induced to make this remark,
from knowing the difficulty persons frequently experience in keeping
"tombstones" clear of this species of vegetation, which not only renders
the inscription indistinct, but also by degrees destroys the stones from
the singular property possessed by them of generating and depositing
" oxalic acid," which, acting chemically on the material, makes small
holes and fissures, in which water collects, and this expanding during
its conversion into ice, the stone is thus by degrees mechanically broken,
so that in the course of time hardly a trace of it is left to mark the spot
beneath which has been deposited a human frame robbed by death of
its vitality. Slow, diminutive, and almost imperceptible though this action
may be, yet it is one of the modes by which nature, in a series of cen-
turies, has ordained that mountains should be razed to the same level
as the earth, on which originally stood their base.

Placed lowest in the scale of vegetative existence, we find the
"Fungi," familiar to you all in a variety of forms, as puffballs, toad-
stools, mushrooms, &c. Besides these, mould, mildew and fermentation
are fungous growths, and these constitute the lowest forms in which
vitality can be conceived to exist. They live but to die, for even the
highest classes of fungi retain life but for a brief period, it may be for
days, or even longer, but oftener we may count their duration by hours.
A fungus in dying resolves itself into myriads of imperceptible particles,
each of which is a reproductive germ, capable, the essentials to its vege-
tation being at hand, of producing a plant of the same species; and these
minute atoms pervade all nature, at all times and seasons. We move not
an inch, or lay our hands on anything tangible without coming in con-
tact with some of them, and even at every inspiration we draw into our

APPEXDIX UB" 569

lungs countless numbers of vegetables. The disease called "Rust" which
so often attacks wheat growing in soil over-manured, or in damp situa-
ations, or seasons, is of fungous growth, the germs producing it hav-
ing had their dormant vitality aroused by one or the other of the above
causes. These germs, being incorporated in the substance of the wheat,
before it is sown, well informed farmers, to avoid loss consequent on Rust,
destroy them before the grain is put in the ground by soaking it in
saline, or corrosive solutions. Decay, incipient or advanced, or a ten-
dency thereto, is absolutely essential to the production of this species of
vegetation. This fact is beautifully and poetically expressed in the fol-
lowing lines by Pope, who says: —

" Se-e dying vegetables life sustain,
See life dissolving vegetate again;
All forms that perish other forms supply,
By turns we catch the vital breath and die."

Thus, you will have observed that old shoes are more liable to acquire
mould than new ones both being in situations equally damp. Mould is
often formed in the very centre of cheese, and it may have reached this
locality in more ways than one. It is perfectly possible that the cow
may have eaten some of these fungous germs when grazing, and parted
with them again in her milk, where they remained during the various
processes employed in manufacturing it into this article of commerce,
to be developed, at some future period, in its very heart. But, while
there is no improbability in this, the more easy and satisfactory way of
accounting for it is, that while in the state of curd the germs were deposi-
ted on it, and there remained dormant and imperceptible until circum-
stances induced a vegetative action.

Fermentation, familiar to all housekeepers who make their own yeast,
is partly a chemical process, and partly a fungous vegetation. By the for-
mer decomposition is commenced, when the mass is seen to increase, by
the development of the germ, which before lay in an inert state.

A ve»ry singular species of fungous vegetation is that observed in
damp wine cellars, where a kind of mould collects around the walls and
corks of the bottles, the vapour of the wine serving as their stimulus as
well as nourishment. Philosophers have not yet discovered whether an
excess of the stimulus produces in these low-born vegetables the same
effects (viz. intoxication) as in certain higher members of the animal
creation. However, both man and mould, when under its pernicious
influence, adhere to the principle and adopt the motto "of a short life
and a merry one." Any quantity of wine escaping in a moist and ill-
ventilated cellar will resolve itself into a large and more substantial
description of Fungi, which is frequently observed in the wine vaults
of the London docks, where also this species of vegetation may be seen
hanging in dark and cloud-like masses from the brick arches which sur-
mount the buildings. A singular circumstance relating to this subject
came under the notice of Sir Joseph Banks. Having a cask of wine,
rather too sweet for immediate use, he ordered it to be placed in a cellar
to ripen. At the end of three years he directed his butler to ascertain
the state of the wine; when on attempting to open the cellar door, he
could not effect it, in consequence of some powerful obstacle. The door
was therefore cut down, when the cellar was found to be completely"
filled with a firm fungous vegetable production, so substantial as to
require an axe for its removal. This appeared to have grown from,
or to have been nourished by, the decomposed particles of the wine, the
cask being empty and buoyed up to the ceiling, where it was supported
by the surface of the fungus. Had Sir Joseph been a superstitious indi-
vidual, he might very readily have construed this into an admonition from
nature to relinquish all intimacy with " Bacchus " and the juice of the
grape, and take instead of wine that drink which she has so abundantly
provided for all living things, vegetable as well as animal, viz., cold
water, but like those of the olden time he took not, I believe, this crypto-

570 APPENDICES

gamic hint, but kept on in the even tenor of his way, and enjoyed in
moderation life while it lasted.

Professor Monnen, of Germany, in 1845 produced a well written article
on the disease or rot which in that year first attacked the potato. In
this he attributes the affection to be one of vegetable parasitic produc-
tion; and says that by microscopic observation he detected a fungous
growth called "Black mould" (Botrytis Nigra) occupying all parts so
diseased, which he imagined was the cause of the affection, and as a pre-
ventive to its further progress recommended potato depots, cellars, etc.,
tc be thoroughly cleansed, sprinkled with lime and the seed to be well
washed with a solution of lime, bluestone and sea salt; which acts pre-
cisely similar to the corrosive and saline solutions mentioned when speak-
ing of the rust of wheat. Knowing as we do that these fungous germs
pervade all nature, this explanation, to an unscientific person, would
appear not only plausible, but highly probable, but if you will bear in
mind the following sentence, which escaped me only a few minutes since,
and which I gave not as theoretical, but as an established fact, you will
at once perceive the fallacy of the Professor's arguments. I then said
that " decay, incipient or advanced, or a tendency thereto, is absolutely
essential to the production of this species of vegetation" (the fungous).
Hence the necessity of the actual existence of the disease, or an estab-
lished tendency to it, before the appearance of the " black mould " in
question. Monnen, either forgetting or being ignorant of the known fact
above alluded to, has merely given us effect for cause; and notwithstand-
ing the many inquiries instituted for the detection of its origin, we still
remain in ignorance as to the true nature of the potato disease.

Before leaving the subject of fungous vegetation, I would briefly
remark that, living as these plants do on decaying animal and vegetable
matter, they, in common with certain tribes of insects, serve a wise pur-
pose, and are subservient to a beautiful law of nature by which the putres-
cence of the atmosphere, following such decay, is prevented, the foetid
exhalations arising therefrom being absorbed by them >as nutriment, hence
the term " scavengers of nature," sometimes applied to fungi, is by no
means inappropriate.

An instance of vegetable decay in the higher orders of plants, producing
aliment for, and thus indirectly yielding vitality to, themselves, and those
of an equal rank, as well as to the lowest class of plants, is to be observed
in the falling of leaves from trees, which, undergoing decomposition, are
converted into carbonic acid, water, etc., and these are absorbed by the
spongioles as vegetable food. Here is an example of a plant actually
feeding on that which but a short period before was a part and parcel of
itself. Another instance, though not exactly a parallel one, of the destruc-
tion and death of some of the vegetable creation being the means of giving
life to other members of the same kingdom, has no doubt been observed
by all present. I allude to a forest being destroyed by fire, and the ground
on which it stood soon becoming covered with plants altogether different
in appearance, though not in structure, from those burnt. The explana-
tion of which is, that comparatively deep beneath the surface seeds have
existed probably for centuries, but for want of the essentials to germina-
tion, viz., heat, moisture and air, their dormant vitality has never been
aroused until the fire by its expansive and pulverising properties gives
free ingress to them, when young plants of a different class from those
destroyed spring up with surprising rapidity. Here is a remarkable
example of the vital principle remaining inert for a period of unknown
length being aroused from its trance of ages to activity immediately on
the application of the necessary stimuli. The existence and duration of
the vital spark, so to speak, under such circumstances, is one of the most
surprising features embraced by the subject of my lecture, and cannot fail
to strike us all with wonder and astonishment, indicating as it does in
Nature's language, which is vastly stronger than words, the unlimited
resources of Nature's Architect, who destroys by His element a structure
of His own formation, only that, by its death, birth may be given to
another equally chaste and beautiful in its appearance and construction.

APPENDIX "B" 571

A partial cessation in the vital acts of the vegetable creation is observed
in all northern climes during the winter. The leaves of a tree having
fallen off necessarily implies that its growth has for the time being ceased,
but although it may want these, its lungs, still, unless the sap is com-
pletely consolidated by intense cold, a languid circulation is perceptible,
which is again brought into full activity, on the approach of spring, by the
expansion of the buds, which open, and in so doing, either by producing
a vacuum or from some other cause, act as a stimulus to the fluids.

So much time has been occupied in discussing vegetable phenomena in
relation to vitality that it will not be in my power, interesting though the
subject is, to dwell for any length on " animal life."

In distinguishing between animals and vegetables of the higher classes
we find no difficulty; but it is not so when we descend to the lowest
grades of the two kingdoms, where, in many instances, to decide the point
requires the nicest discrimination. This leads me to draw a line of
demarkation between the two, and to define each by naming certain 'attri-
butes peculiar to it.

" Vegetables " are fixed to certain localities. They possess no sensi-
bility, as far as we are able to detect. The " sensitive plant " has fre-
quently been quoted to disprove this; however, i'ts properties may be said
to depend rather on " irritability " and its peculiar mechanism than on the
existence of a nervous system. They have no stomachs, or receiving
depots for food, and their nutriment consists wholly of inorganic matter.
Xow in animals spontaneous motion is always supposed to exist, and the
greater number, if not all, even of zoophytes, if they possess not a per-
ceptible nervous system, are endowed with sensibility. A stomach, or
some modification of this organ, always characterizes animals, and it has
not the power to convert inorganic into organic matter for the sustenance
of the being possessing it. On the contrary, organized nutriment is essen-
tial to " animal vitality," hence the dependence of the one kingdom, for
life, on flie other.

Both creations are of cellular origin and structure, and throughout
the two we observe the most striking analogies, and these are not confined
to the lowest grades of each kingdom, nor to their fully developed mem-
bers, but ai*e to be seen in their highest divisions, and that, too, even in
their earliest stages of existence. Thus if we contrast the egg of a bird
with ike seed of a tree we find this statement as to analogy verified. The
yolk of the egg corresponds to the germ of the seed, and each owes its first
marks of vitality to the vitalizing effects of the albumen with which it is
surrounded, this being in the animal production what wre know as " the
white of an egg." Certain conditions are equally requisite for the devel-
opment of both, as, for instance, warmth, which the seed derives from the
sun's rays, and the egg from the parent; artificial heat, however, serves
the same end.

I have always descended the ladder of vegetable life, commencing with
the higher species and terminating with the lowest, and will now take a
retrograde course, and climb, with more rapidity than I could wish, the
steps of " Animal Vitality," beginning at its most inferior, sponge, and
ending on its summit, man.

Sponges, technically termed Porifera, the basis or skeleton of which
you are all familiar with, are the connecting link, uniting, as it were, the
two living kingdoms of Nature. For a long time it was a matter of doubt
to which of the two they belonged, but they are now almost universally
acknowledged as members of the animal division, and this conclusion has
been founded on two principal grounds, viz., on the existence of a gelatin-
ous animal membrane, which, during the life of the sponge lines the whole
interior and is in some way concerned in the production of certain nutri-
tive actions, to be afterwards described, and also on the power of spon-
taneous motion possessed, though only for a brief period, by the young
animal. The gelatinous membrane just mentioned is studded with small
yellow opaque spots, which are all reproductive germs, and under the
microscope are frequently observed to detach themselves from the parent
and to assume an independent existence. At this early period it (the germ

572 APPENDICES

or young sponge) is endowed with the power of moving to and fro, which
it does by the aid of cilia, or hair-like appendages attached to its front
aspect. Spontaneous motion is produced by these cilia being made to
strike the water much as do the feet of a dog when swimming. If
obstructed in its course by any resisting body it rebounds and circum-
navigates it, resuming as soon as possible its original direction. In this
way it paddles itself along, it may be for hours or even days, until at
length, finding a convenient and desirable locality, it attaches itself to
it for life. The cilia, having now served the purpose for which they were
intended, drop off and are no longer perceptible. Should the embryo
animal, when in motion, come in contact with another of the same species,
they coalesce, and the one becomes engrafted, as it were, into the other so
perfectly that in a short period no trace of two distinct germs can be
observed, the two having merged into one, and now perform all their
actions in common. This animal amalgamation, if I may so term it,
bears a striking analogy to the process of " grafting " in the vegetable
kingdom, in which a limb or bud of one tree may, by artificial means, be
so attached to another as to live and perform Its vital actions equally as
well as when connected with the parent plant. The germ, being now
stationary, soon enlarges and becomes in the course of time, by the pro-
cess of cellular development, fully matured, having its soft structures
deposited on, and attached to, a silicious skeleton, the sponge of every-
day use.

In these larger animals, sometimes even by the naked eye, we can per-
ceive currents of water issuing from the circular orifices with which they
abound, and being scattered with opaque articles of matter in every direc-
tion. This water has entered the mass through the myriads of micro-
scopic pores which it possesses, and has been collected within its gelatinous
stomachs, from whence, after having deposited its nutritious particles it is
expelled by the large orifices above named. These motions are not con-
stant, but generally continue for a period of four to six hours, when, either
from exhaustion or its nutritive wants being supplied, the animal seeks
repose before resuming them again. How this forcible expulsion of the
fluid is effected has not been discovered, but arguing from the general
analogy existing between sponge and other zoophytes, many physiologists
have concluded, perhaps prematurely, that it is of ciliary origin. Here,
then (in sponges), we have evidence of animal life, and that, too, in its
minimum degree. As we ascend the graduated scale of this kingdom at
each progressive step, vitality presents itself to our senses in a more
striking light. Not far removed from the " Porifera," as regards sim-
plicity of construction and life, are the " Polypi," generally known as
Polypes. Of these there are' almost endless varieties. -Sometimes several,
each adequately adapted for a separate and distinct life, are collected
together, living in a state of republicanism, as it were; that is, each exists
as much for the good of the general mass as for itself. Oftentimes, again,
myriads upon myriads are intimately associated for some common purpose,
as is the case with Coral Polypes, whose object in life is to build, by
secreting calcareous matter from their structure, these animal forests of
the deep. In formation, as in origin, Polypes are cellular, being developed
like sponge from opaque germs attached to the matured animal, which
are analogous to the buds of vegetables, and consequently capable of pro-
ducing others similar in character to the one from which they were
detached. Although all kinds are not alike in structure and appearance,
yet a concise description of one will suffice for the whole. A Polype is
generally elongated in form, having a central cavity, or stomach, running
its entire length; and this does away with the necessity of a vascular
system, as well as very many of the more complex organs possessed by
higher animals, because almost all parts of the Polype are in immediate
contact with its food, and the lining membrane of the stomach absorbs
and applies it directly to the economy of the animal. Its mouth opens
directly into its stomach, and around its margin are hair-like appendages,
which are frequently tubular. These are called the " tentacula," and

APPENDIX "B" 573

serve by their motions and contractions to propel a fluid current (con-
taining their aliment) through the mouth into the central cavity. The
tentacula are elongated by being filled wiltih the water as it passes out-
ward when the animal contracts itself, and this reversed current is
materially aided by the " cilia " lining the inner membrane. The short-
ening or contraction of the tentacular tubes is effected simply by the
return of the water, as they empty themselves. These few remarks
embrace the general outline of structure and vital actions of the animals
in question, but I cannot leave the subject without particularizing one
species — the "Hydra," or fresh-water polype, which derives its name
from a fabulous monster. This animal is nothing more than a short tube,
having one orifice, its mouth, more dilated than the other, around which
are tentacula of considerable length, for the purpose of encircling and
carrying into its central cavity any minute particles they may meet witb
adapted for its nourishment. The Hydra is endowed with vitality of a
peculiar kind and extent, and displays a remarkable tenacity of life and
tendency to reproduction. Thus, as small a creature as it is, you may cut
it into fifty pieces, which in a very short time will become fifty distinct
animals, each of which will be as perfect an Hydra as the one originally
subdivided. Besides, you may engraft one portion into any part of
another, and in this way produce endless numbers of monsters. These
singular phenomena are observed throughout the entire family of polypi,
but not to the same extent as in the Hydra. Indeed, you may turn the
creature inside out, and almost immediately that which before was its
skin will be converted into its stomach, the original organ having assumed
the appearance and actions of the external lining. Here we have vitality
displayed in one of its most surprising and extraordinary garbs, than
which a more wonderful phenomenon exists not throughout the whole
domain of nature. One would hardly imagine that anything bearing
analogy to the dormant vitality of vegetable seeds long buried could be
found in the animal creation; still such exists in very many animalcules,
and indeed even in some of the more highly developed " Annelida " or
worms, which may be kept in a dry state for an indefinite period, and
when moistened with water resume again their activity. The " Rotifer
Redivivus," or wheel animalcule, presents a more striking instance. It
can live only in water, but may be deprived of this fluid and reduced to
perfect dryness. Here all vital action ceases, yet this particle of dust,
after remaining for years in this state, may immediately be restored to
life by the application of a drop of water, when vitality, with its accom-
panying phenomena, will be observed just as if it had never been removed
from its native element. The " Vibrio Tritici," an animalcule resembling
an eel in shape, infesting diseased wheat, and the " Filaria," a thread-like
parasitic worm, dwelling in the eye of the horse, particularly in India,
exhibit the same dormant state of life. Many other examples might be
enumerated, but those just quoted will suffice to display the analogy to
which I so recently made allusion.

To trace vitality through the different grades and classes of animals
would be an endless undertaking, and even to touch them, however lightly,
would require several lectures. I therefore cannot, on the present occa-
sion, do more than recommend the subject for the study of your leisure
hours, and in so doing can insure to you much that is beautiful and
instructive and an ample mental recompense for the little trouble it may
occasion you.

This recommendation, then, must serve as the conducting medium by
which I am thus rapidly to be conveyed from the lowest rung in the ladder
of animal life to its antipode, the summit, or, to adopt that which is real
for the figurative, I will in conclusion briefly consider vitality in relation
to the highest and greatest work of creation— man.

In viewing the subject of Life, in connection with human beings,
nearly all my remarks will be more or less applicable to animals, removed,
even many grades in the scale of existence, from man.

The whole of the many tissues entering into our structures — nervous,

574 APPENDICES

muscular, osseous, vascular, fibrous, etc. — are formed precisely as are the
fibrous and vascular systems in vegetables; that is, by the coalescing and
further development of series of cells; each tissue assuming to itself cer-
tain appearances, vital actions and principles by which it may be dis-
tinguished from its fellows. Yet, while all are thus different, and appar-
ently enjoying an independent existence, by a beautiful and incompre-
hensible feature of creation, the one tissue, or system of tissues, is
dependent on the others for vitality. Thus if the stomach and heart
wanted their muscular fibres, food could not be digested, or the blood cir-
culated, and consequently they themselves, as well as all other parts of
the human frame, would be mere collections of non-vitalized matter.
Bone is simply the basis, or foundation, on which the other tissues are
placed, as superstructures. Denuded of its closely adhering envelope, the
"periosteum," through the medium of whioh it is nourished, immediately
its vitality ceases, even though it should stili continue- attached to the
animal frame and be surrounded on all sides by living tissues. It is
then lifeless, like the skeleton which ornaments the surgeon's library.

A muscle consists of bundles of fibres, collected within a thin sheath,
each fibre entering into its composition being, as regards contractibility,
independent of its neighbor, yet the whole, their accustomed stimulus
being applied, act in unison as if by one common consent; concentrating
their inherent contractile power for the same effort or end. Thus, if I
wish to raise any object from the table, the mind, being the receptacle or
source from which the wish had its origin, transmits its command through
the medium of the nerves supplying certain muscles in the arm, and these,
in obedience, being subservient to the will, at once make the effort and the
thing is removed. In this case the stimulus is the mind which exerts its
influence, by the agency of the nervous system, not on one, but on several
muscles, and these act as much in concert as do the several bundles of
fibres composing each. These remarks are applicable only to the voluntary
division of the muscular system. The second, or involuntary set, are not
subject to the will, as, for example, the heart and stomach, which are
hollow, involuntary muscles, yet their vitality is as marked and their
actions performed with the same energy and order as if they belonged
to the voluntary class. The blood in the former, and the food in the
latter, acting as their stimulus to contractility.

Nerves are generally smaller than muscles, but precisely similar as
regards their structure; that is, they are composed of bundles of fibres
collected together for certain ends.

I should have stated before that the fibres of the muscular system
are tubular and contain a semi-fluid granular pith (so to speak) called
" Sarcolemma," to which their vital actions and contractile power are to
be referred. The same remarks are applicable to the nervous tissues, or
fibres, which also are tubular and contain a highly vitalized fluid, on
which depend all nervous phenomena. These tubular fibres of nerves
vary in diameter from 1-2,000 to 1-15,000 part of an inch.

There are three 'descriptions of this tissue. The first two are termed
" nerves Of sensation and of motion," and in most instances the fibres
composing each run their course within the same external envelope, with-
out being at all connected, unless it may be in the brain. Should the
point of a needle cause you pain by coming in contact with your finger, it
is because it has pierced a sensitive nervous fibre. The sensation is con-
veyed by this single fibre, so small as to be imperceptible to the unaided
vision, through the spinal cord to the brain, which receiving the impres-
sion, quicker than thought a command is given to a fibre, or fibres of
motion, to remove the finger from the offending instrument, and this is
effected by the aid of the muscular system. Here we have the explanation
of the sudden jerk following the prick of a needle, and it is also a prac-
tical definition of the two sets of nervous fibres in question, as well as an
example of the aid and protection afforded by one set of tissues to
another.

Besides nerves of sensation and of motion there is a third division,

APPENDIX "B" 575

called sympathetic, or " nerves of organic life," from being distributed
principally to the different organs concerned in nutrition. The stomach
and heart are to a great extent under their influence, yet we feel them
not, neither are we aware, under ordinary circumstances, that their accus-
tomed actions are being performed (that is, as regards sensation). Taking
into consideration the general nature of the nervous system, this may at
first sight appear strange, but when we come to look more deeply into
the matter, a new light strikes our admiring gaze, and we view it, no
longer as an anomaly, but, on the contrary, as a high and wise provision
intended for our comfort and enjoyment; for were it otherwise, and if
each digestive act of the stomach, and each contraction of the heart
required a mental conception and a mental effort before it could be per-
formed, then would our minds be constantly occupied and our thoughts
wholly absorbed by these two nutritive phenomena alone. Resting on
the spine, midway between the two sets of false ribs, is a large collection
of these organic nerves (one might almost term it the organic brain). A
sudden and severe blow over this part, known as the pit of the stomach,
frequently causes collapse of the whole system and immediate death.
This is the cause of many prizefighters dying whilst engaged in the brutal
sport of " the Ring." Were it not for the protection afforded the true
brain by its bony envelope, the skull, it would require but a very slight
injury there to produce an entire cessation of vitality, either in man or
the lower animals possessing it. If asked in what portion or tissue of
the human frame vitality existed in its maximum degree, I would reply:
the brain and nervous system, the seat and centre of all sensations. In
it the mind, the possession of which so elevates man above all other
terrestrial animate beings, has its abode. Like a general it governs by
its mental powers or resources the external movements of the being pos-
sessing it, and to a great extent exercises control over the internal organs
of our composition. Its commands are conveyed, not by fleetly-mounted
aides-de-camp, but by its subservient nerves, with a rapidity not to be
contrasted even with thought, to parts most distant, which yield a ready
obedience to its mandates. The conducting lines of the " electro-magnetic
telegraph " are its nerves, the battery or machine generating its non-
tangible principle is its brain. Miracles, we may almost say, can be
worked by this subtle unknown thing, yet it is subservient to a human
machine, and like the steam-engine, which bounds o*er space, and aids in
the support of the political vitality of nations, by intimately connecting
their integral portions, had its origin in the mind ot man. Both appear
" like things of life," but it is not so. They inherit not vitality or that
elevating principle which gives life and character to organized matter.
Closely and essentially connected as the brain is with every part of the
frame, still disease, or the surgeon's knife, may destroy comparatively
large portions of it without impairing its vitality or mental resources, and
human life may even be supported for a time without a brain at all — that
is, if the upper part of the spinal cord, from which originate the nerves
concerned in respiration, should be perfect, as has been proved by the
birth of anencephalous monsters which have existed, I can hardly say
lived, for days, and food being placed in their mouths is swallowed and
digested.

A glance at nutrition, and then I shall have done. Food being received
into the stomach undergoes there certain changes, and in passing from it
is acted upon by the bile, Which alters its character, when it is absorbed
in the state of chyle, by a set of vessels termed " lacteals." These collect
and transmit it through the " thoracic duct " to a large vein at the root
of the neck. Having now entered the circulation it becomes changed in
character and appearance, and passes through the right side of the heart
to the lungs, where, being acted on by the air we breathe, it receives a
quantity of oxygen, giving off in its place carbonic acid. This blood,
which was before, dark and impure, is now florid and is returned from
the lungs to the left side of the heart, which, contracting, propels it
forcibly to every portion of the body, to nourish, support and strengthen

576 APPENDICES

it. This wonderful and life-giving fluid is composed of " liquor sanguinis "
and "red corpuscles," each of which (in minute physiology) may be
divided into many constituents, not requisite to be enumerated on the
present occasion. It is the former which transudes through the walls of
the vessels and forms and regenerates the various tissues. This, I may
add, is a disputed point, many physiologists, and among them Dr. Martin
Barry, attributing this office to the " red globules." However, I think
the grounds in favor of the former doctrine sufficiently conclusive to
justify me in advocating it; for the diameter of the corpuscles in question
is, on an average, 1-3,500 part of an inch, and it has been satisfactorily
shown that the walls of blood-vessels will not permit of the passage of
granules under 1-25,000 or 1-30,000 part of an inch — hence the inconsistency
of the Barry theory. While, therefore, the "liquor sanguinis," or rather
its constituent, "fibrin," forms and repairs tihe tissues, the red globules
are subservient to respiration, and are intimately connected with the
production and retention of warmth in the animal frame, but at the same
time the older globules, being replaced by new ones, undergo solution
and then mingle with the " liquor sanguinis " as a constituent part of it,
and ifi this indirect way only can they be said to be instrumental in the
growth and repair of other vital portions of the frame.

I have thus concisely, and I hope clearly, demonstrated how it is that
the food which we have this day eaten is now coursing through our veins
and arteries and acting as the pabulum vitce or food of life. Previous to
its (the food) being absorbed by the lacteals, as e'hyle, all tne changes
were purely of a chemical and physical nature. It now for the first time
is organized and claims vitality as its own, which, although of a low
degree, rapidly increases by the conversion of its albumen into fibrin as
it nears the heart, and very shortly this chyle, having been subjected to
the influence of the air in the lungs, is moulded into pure and florid
blood. Should a bone be broken, the fibrin of the blood transudes through
the walls of the vessels containing it, near the injured part, and it is
converted into a hard callus which surrounds its entire circumference,
and after a series of changes becomes bone, similar to that, the broken
extremities of which it has united. If a muscle, nerve or vessel, be divided,
kind and provident nature joins it again by a bond of union, resembling
the original structure, and by one, too, that admits of the free performance
of its function. This is the explanation of the feeling or sensation of a
part being restored gradually after having been for some time lost from
the effects of a wound, the divided nerve, or nerves, having united and
resumed again their office. You have all witnessed the result of a burn,
where a new skin is formed closely resembling the old, but here, as in
the cases just quoted, the tissues reproduced are somewhat inferior to
those destroyed. The copy is not equal to the original, even though
Nature, which first constructed it, be the copyist. These parts are all
restored by a process of cellular development, precisely similar to that
mentioned when speaking of the formation of vegetable tissues. It is
very generally believed that the whole animal body, or system, is changed
every seven years. In relation to this, I would add that, although the
principle is correct, yet no time can be fixed for this entire change of
the tissues. As I told you when defining the term vitality, " the very idea
of life involves change," so here we see it extensively displayed; for at
every breath we draw and every motion we make, perceptible or imper-
ceptible, there is waste of the parts engaged, and this loss of the tissues
is constant, it ceases not by day or by night. To effect this change, a
distinct set of vessels, termed "absorbents," is required, which, by a
vital power inherent in them, take up these decaying and decayed par-
ticles and convey them into the general circulation, from whence they
are removed by the excreting organs, the lungs, etc. The veins essen-
tially aid the absorbents in this vital act and it is also surmised that the
capillaries, or those minute vessels which serve as the connecting medium
between veins and arteries, assist in taking up these waste molecules.
Now, if there were no counteracting agent, from excess of waste, life would
soon become extinct; but here again the immeasurable resources of the

APPENDIX "B" 577

Creator display themselves, for, to prevent this excess and to neutralize
the effects of the absorbent system, He has endowed the blood with the
vital power of repairing the loss in question, which it does by depositing
its fibrin, as described only a few moments since, and this, singular to
say, although apparently only a thin liquid, on being placed in contact
with tissues possessing vitality, assumes the exact appearance, and all
the properties of the parts with which it is thus approximated. In infancy
and youth, the separative process far exceeds the waste of the tissues,
hence their growth and enlargement. It is thus that the little babe
becomes in time the full grown man or woman. From this to middle life,
the two vital acts, absorption and reparation, about neutralize each other
by equality of action. It is not so, however, at a more advanced age, where
waste, as must be apparent to you all, exceeds in activity the process of
repair — hence the contraction of the countenance causing wrinkles, also
the general diminution in size and action of the internal organs, as well
as all external parts. It is this decrease in vascular action, and excess
of absorption which removes the coloring matter from hair, and changes
that, even of raven blackness, to the whiteness of snow — the roots of
which eventually, from want of nutriment, relinquish their hold and
leave the polished scalp unprotected, notwithstanding the most strenuous
efforts made for its restoration by Rowland's famous oil, Columbia's balm
and other quack nostrums. In "tabes mesenterica " (a species of con-
sumption), where the lacteals, which absorb and convey the chyle to
the blood, become obstructed by the deposit of tubercular matter in and
around them, we have an example of the preponderance of absorption,
or waste, over reparation; and this occurs most frequently in childhood
and youth, death but too frequently following, merely from inanition. In
these cases the tissues dwindle away almost to nothing before the sufferer
is relieved by the final cessation of vitality. It is rare indeed for a
person to die purely from old age; generally they are cut off by the
accession of some disease, and we cannot but wonder how life is so long
sustained, knowing, as we do, the exquisite minuteness and complica-
tions of certain structures, the most trifling injury to which would cause
death to reign where but an instant before life existed with all its varying
and wonderful phenomena. Akenside, when speaking of seventy years
being the ordinary duration of human life, aptly compares man to a
musical instrument and says: "Strange that a harp of thousand strings
should keep in tune so long." A beautiful idea, poetically expressed.
While three score years and ten is the time generally allotted for the
duration of human life, we not unfrequently meet with instances extend-
ing to double that period, or even longer. Professor Traill speaks of a
case where a man in Orkney, 1(M5 years old, walked six miles before break-
fast to visit him. In Yorkshire a man followed his occupation, that of a
woodman, at 108 years. Old Parr was actively engaged as a fisherman
at the age of 100'; he died in 1635, upwards of 152. Henry Jenkins died
in 1670, aged 169. Catherine, Countess of Desmond, saw ten sovereigns
on the throne of England. In the reign of James I., when 140 years of
age, she rode from Bristol to London on horseback, a distance of about
120 miles. Ian Rovine and his wife were living in Transylvania at the
age of 164, and Petrarch Lortan in the same country died in 1724 at the
very advanced age of 185. These, and numerous other anomalous
exceptions to the " three score years and ten " law of nature, have in
recent times been attributed to the life extending properties inherent in
" Parr's Life Pills," which are eventually intended, so say the news-
papers, to do away with those at present " necessary evils," the doctors,
and their accompanying bills — of mortality, in toto.

We not unfrequently read accounts of persons, particularly ship-
wrecked mariners, and miners, retaining life for many days without food.
In these cases the fat, which under ordinary circumstances is a provision
for the retention of animal warmth, is again absorbed into the circula-
tion, from which it was originally deposited, and in this way serves to
aourish the other tissues for a time. It is wonderful what a small
amount of nutriment will support vitality in human beings. As an
37

578 APPENDICES

example I would quote the case of a famine which occurred some years
since in Swedish Lapland, where the inhabitants of the interior existed
almost entirely on " Berg or mountain meal " found in the hollows of
trees, which by Professor Traill's analysis was discovered to be " animal-
culi," the nutritive constituents of which were extremely small. It is
said that in days of old an ancestor of the Dalhousie family known as the
" good Sir Ramsay," a sheriff of some division of Scotland, was taken
prisoner by " the Black Douglas " and kept in his castle for a compara-
tively long time without any food whatever except a few grains of
wheat which accidentally dropped through a crevice in his dungeon from
a store-room above it.

Generally speaking, life will continue for a period of seven days,
more or less, without food or water (air, of course, being supplied), but
should the latter be obtained, life will probably exist from fifteen to
twenty days, or even more. Sailors, being aware of this, when without
food or drink sometimes jump overboard and remain a short time in the
water, a quantity of which enters the circulation through the pores of
the skin, and in this way prolong their lives. Hunger and a wasted
state of the tissues appears to exert a wonderful influence on, and to
excite to increased absorptive action the whole cutaneous surface or skin.
A remarkable fact in illustration of this is mentioned by Dr. Watson in
his chemical essays. A lad at Newmarket, reduced to a proper weight
for riding a match, was weighed at nine a.m., and again at ten a.m.,
and he was found to have gained nearly thirty ounces in weight in the
course of this hour, though he had only drunk half a glass of wine in
the interim. A parallel instance is narrated by the late Sir G. Hill,
then Governor of St. Vincent. A jockey had been for some time in train-
ing for a race in which that gentleman was much interested, and had
been reduced to the proper weight. On the morning of the trial, being
much oppressed with thirst, he took one cup of tea, and shortly after-
wards his weight was found to have increased six pounds, so that he
was incapacitated for riding. Nearly the whole of the increase in the
former case, and at least three-fourths of it in the latter, must be attri-
buted to cutaneous absorption, which function was probably stimulated
by the wine that was taken in the one case and by the tea in the other.
Occasionally we see it mentioned in periodicals that toads, or other
cold-blooded animals, have been cut out of the solid rock alive, where
their discoverers assert that no air or moisture can possibly be admitted.
Knowing the absolute dependence of animal vitality on the presence of
air, physiologists deny its want in these contracted prisons, where the
required small amount probably gains admission by a minute fissure,
or fissures, which have escaped the observer's eye.

In reference to the matter laid before you I would say, " Such is life."
Then what is death, or in what does it consist? Why, merely in the
abstraction of vitality from a body possessing it.

Doubtless you are all aware of the fact that persons have frequently
been buried alive, and these cases are more numerous than is generally
supposed, particularly in countries where plague, cholera and other
malignant diseases rapidly decrease the population by their ravages.
Under such circumstances it is by no means uncommon to bury those
destroyed en masse in pits which, being opened to receive new victims,
have often yielded to life individuals who had been numbered among the
dead. It was customary among the Romans to burn their dead and to
preserve in costly vessels their ashes or remains, and Pliny mentions
several instances of resuscitation when the body was on the funeral pile,
and even when it was too late to save the person. Gibbon narrates a case
of a Roman Emperor (Zeno, I believe) who was entombed alive. Lord
Bacon, in his work entitled "Historian Vita? et Mortis" ("History of Life
and Death"), makes mention of several such cases which occurred about
the beginning of the seventeenth century. Formerly, before medical men
were aided by the Legislature in procuring subjects for scientific and
necessary purposes, they, as you are all aware, were compelled to obtain
them illegally, and not unfrequently were these bodies found to have been

APPENDIX "B" 579

prematurely buried. Post mortem examinations or dissections are not
allowed by law to take place until twenty-four hours after death, and not
seldom does even this time prove too limited. I was informed by one
of my teachers, an eminent professor in the Edinburgh University, that
as a student he once saw a child opened by a celebrated medical man
who, to his amazement and horror, discovered by the pulsations and
movements of the heart that it was actually alive. Of course vitality
soon ceased to exist here.

A French abbe in 1787 was seized with apoplexy in a forest, and those
who found him fancied he was dead. A crown officer ordered an investi-
gation, which had commenced when a grossly ignorant surgeon hastily
drove a scalpel into some vital part; a loud scream followed and the
man instantly died, the officer making use of the following expression to
those around him, " Be silent and lament." Much in the same way did
the justly celebrated Berzelius destroy a woman's life, but here the ease
was altogether different in its nature, for vitality existed in a state
60 dormant as to escape the observation even of the most acute and able
of the profession. However, the occurrence had such an effect on his mind
as shortly after to cause his death. Several cases are on record where
persons in the state of trance or swoon have by some fortunate circum-
stance been saved from a premature grave. Winslow, the celebrated
author who wrote on this subject, was twice laid out for dead, and was
on one of these occasions actually being carried to his final resting place
when he was aroused from dormant to actual life. This circumstance
gave origin to the work in question.

A French lady of rank was buried in a church with a valuable diamond
ring on her finger, to obtain which a servant entered the place at night,
and not being able to remove it easily, proceeded to cut off the finger,
when the pain (ethereal vapor was not then in vogue for the perform-
ance of such operations) caused her to cry out, and some priests being
at hand, hearing the noise, rushed to the place and found the lady not
dead, as they had supposed, but alive, and in no small degree astonished
at the novelty of her situation. The robber servant was so alarmed at
the result of his operation that he fainted, and not many days after died
from the shock his system had received, while the lady lived for many
years.

A parallel case is said to have occurred in Dublin. The lady of
Col. Russel, in Queen Anne's reign, to all appearances died suddenly on
a Sunday morning just as the first bells were ringing for church. Her
husband, having been devotedly attached to her, could not be made to
comprehend the loss he had sustained, and in a state of frenzy declared
when the day of her burial arrived that she was not dead and that he
would shoot any person or persons who should attempt to remove her.
The Queen, hearing of his devoted attachment to his wife, sent a kind
message to him, requesting him to be reconciled to his loss, and at the
same time to have her buried as the law directed. He begged Her Majesty
in reply to allow him to keep her until decomposition should commence,
which was granted, and, strange to say, on the following Sunday, just
as the church bells began, she suddenly awoke and exclaimed, as if she
had only been dozing, "Come, the second bells are ringing; it is church
time."

A somewhat analogous case is recorded as having occurred on the
Continent many years since. A husband left home for a place at some
distance, where he had business to transact, and had only been on the
road three hours when he was overtaken by a messenger, who informed
him that his wife was dead. As he had so recently left her in perfect
health, he believed it to be a hoax, and consequently did not return for
three days, when they were making preparations for her burial. In a
state bordering on madness, and perhaps wishing to atone for his appar-
ent neglect, he sent for a surgeon and requested him to bleed her. Not
satisfied with no blood following the two or three first attempts, he begged
the disciple of .^sculapius to proceed, when, much to his satisfaction
and delight, just as the twenty-sixth incision was being made, she abruptly

580 APPENDICES

said, " Leave me alone," and in accordance with her request, sure enough
she was left alone by the speedy decampment of the whole corps of
lookers-on, headed by the man of the lancet. One can hardly be surprised
at the exclamation, if the amount of provocation be taken into considera-
tion. Their fright being over, the necessary aid was afforded the lady
and she recovered.

The cases in question display the necessity of waiting for the acces-
sion of decomposition before interring human beings, " apparently dead,"
for on it alone can we infer with certainty the absence of vitality. When
any doubt exists in relation to this in the minds of the friends or medical
attendants of any individuals deceased, or even in very many cases where
there is no doubt at all, in certain German cities they have receptacles or
houses for the dead, kept warm, with bells attached near the coffins, so
that should any come to life an alarm may be given, when the necessary
medical and other assistance will be immediately rendered. A watchman
is constantly on duty who, to prove his vigilance, has every fifteen minutes
to move the hand of a tell tale clock which, by internal machinery regis-
ters the act, and in this way there is a certainty of immediate aid being
rendered in case of need. As soon as the existence of decomposition has
been fairly establishied, and not before, are they removed from this to
the grave.

In dying, man and beast alike are resolved into their constituent ele-
ments, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, and these display no dif-
ference in appearance or action, whether they arise from the inanimate
form of the ruler of nations or that of the despised worm, which in life
he has so often thoughtlessly crushed. On the contrary, death acknow-
ledges no superiority; it dresses all its victims in similar garbs, and the
elements of the haughty noble, forgetting the elevated position they held
in society as organized and living matter, may now be observed coalescing
and combining with those of the "poverty-stricken peasant," and these
insensible particles thus united, serve a common end, viz., that of sup-
porting vitality in vegetables and plants from the highest even to the
lowest grades. Such is death, physiologically considered. For want of
time I have left unsaid a vast deal of important material that might have
been produced in connection with my subject. In factt, its surface only has
been imperfectly skimmed; still, a wide and important field has been
entered on, and attempted to be cleared, for mental cultivation, which I
trust has not been uninteresting to you.

In the course of my lecture many wonderful and striking evidences
of design and of existence of an All Wise Architect of Nature have
been brought before your notice, and I cannot do better than to clothe
my final remark in the words of Galileo, the most profound philosopher
of his age, who, when interrogated by his enemies as to his belief in a
Supreme Being, replied, pointing to a straw on the floor of his dungeon,
that from the structure of that object alone he would infer with certainty
the existence of an intelligent Creator.

APPENDIX "B" 581

INSTINCT AND MIND.

Session 1847-8.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Since the commencement of the present session we have here been
favored with a series of lectures which, taken either singly or collect-
ively, have been from their scientific nature ami popular tendency admir-
ably calculated to impart useful knowledge to minds susceptible of Its
influence and impressions. From these essays I for one can candidly
say that I have derived both pleasure and much substantial information,
and I doubt not that there are many in the seats before me who can
bear similar testimony in favor of the literary efforts of the gentlemen
who have preceded me. This, while it augurs well for the present and
future usefulness of the Institute, has doubtless been the result of the
gradually increasing interest displayed on the part of the public towards
it, as a conducting medium to improvement and self education which,
reacting on those who have from week to week addressed you, has
stimulated them to exertion in the preparation of matter adapted to
please and .improve a taste for literature, already engendered and grow-
ing in the mind of our community.

In glancing over the printed list of lecturers, the word doctor holds
there so prominent a position from thie frequency of its repetition, that I
fear you will before the session closes be literally "drugged with doctors."
However, it is to be hoped that the mental physic which they have dis-
pensed will prove more palatable than that which they are in the habit
of elsewere administering for your physical wants. If this multiplicity
of doctors be a bane, be assured that on the application of the propeT
antidote, we will display no relutctance in being neutralized, or, in other
words, the medical men, who from time to time have the pleasure of
lecturing here, will gladly give place to members of other professions, if
they will, for the sake of variety, permit their names to be inserted in the
list to which I allude.

To-night the pleasing task of addressing you has devolved on me, and
I have selected as the subject of discussion "Instinct and Mind, With Their
Relations to and Influence over the Animal Economy."

At a glance you will perceive the vastness of the subject, and the
impossibility of taking any other than a contracted view of it. Mind,
indeed, as you are all aware, is in itself a science so extensive and abstruse
that each century as it has passed on the wings of time has but con-
tributed "the widow's mite" to the knowledge previously possessed of it, so
that at the present period, even with this accumulation of ages, the ablest
of modern philosophers are reluctantly compelled to confess that it is
wrapt in the cloak of obscurity and doubt; and. should earth exist for
nineteen other centuries beyona the present era, it is more than probable
that those of our species who will then occupy its surface will be of the
same mind.

I am no metaphysician, my inclinations have never tended towards
its mazy, dark and imaginative paths, and the limited knowledge I possess
of the subject of "mind" has been obtained, with reference to my pro-
fession, from the study of physiology; therefore, as a branch of this latter
science will I discuss iit. Should I clothe any part of my address in phy-
siological abstruseness, either as regards ideas, or technical language, I
beg that you will bear with me and seek the necessary explanations at its
conclusion.

With these prefatory remarks, I hasten to view the first portion of
the subject, or "inistinct." which is in itself so interesting that I cannot
consistently pass it over without a somewhat prolonged notice, and that
it may be the better understood, I shall trace it from its lowest state of
development upwards, until at length, in some of the higher mammalia,
we snail find reason and judgment or oriental manifestations occupying
its place, and regulating almost entirely the actions of the animal.

582 APPENDICES

It is universally admitted that a large proportion of the actions of
the lower animals are immediately prompted by sensation, without the
intervention of reason, or any process that can be construed as mental,
and to these the term instinctive is usually applied. It has been further
observed that in proportion as an animal has the phenomena correspond-
ing to the intellectual endowments of man, undeveloped, precisely in that
proportion is the animal under the influence of these instinctive impulses,
which, so far as its own consciousness is concerned, may be designated as
blind and aimless, but which are ordained by the Creator for its protection
from danger, and the supply of its natural wants. The same may be said
of the human infant, or of the idiot, in whom the reasoning powers are
undeveloped.

Instinctive actions may in general be distinguished from those which
are the result of voluntary power, guided by reason, chiefly by the two
following characters: 1st — there is no experience or education required in
order that the •different actions which result from an instinctive impulse
may follow one another with unerring precision. 2nd, these actions are
always performed by the same species of animal, nearly, if not exactly in
the same manner, no such variations or improvements being observed in
the adaptation of means to ends, or in habits and customs, as we know
to have taken place during a succession of ages in man. In other words,
in the progress of life, men, either indivdually or embodied as nations,
have gone ■on varying and improving in manners and customs, in the arts
and sciences, from the days of Adam to the present time, but those of the
animal creation, lower in the scale of life than man, in wrhom instinct
reigns predominant, show no such onward march. They live and perform
all their actions for the present — the future they know not. In illustration
of this fact, I would simply state that bees, familiar to you all as ingenious
natural architects, have constructed their hives with the same mathe-
matical precision, and without the slightest perceptible difference in any
one particular, from time immemorial, and hence we may reasonably
infer that the first animal 'of this species erected and resided in a domicile
precisely similar to those occupied by bees of the present day. I but a
moment since stated that instinct was prompted by "sensation"; this is
universal, a law or rule in nature so absolute that I cannot conceive an
exceptional case. Now, the question may naturally enough suggest itself
to your minds — What is sensation and to what is it due? My reply will
be that it is feeling, in the common, and at the same time the most
extended acceptation of the word, and that it is dependent on the exist-
ence of a nervous system, which is peculiar to the animal kingdom,
nothing analagous to it having ever been discovered in the mineral or
vegetable worlds. The sensitive plant has oft and again been quoted as an
example to the contrary, but its motions have been beyond a doubt traced
to the property of irritability, and its peculiar mechanism. Were it other-
wise, and if this single member of the vegetable kingdom could be proved
to possess a nervous tissue, reasoning analogically, we might very natur-
ally conclude that together with sensation, instinct would characterize it,
for nowhere in the animal world do we find a nervous system without
sensation and instinctive actions. The intimate relationship of instinct
with a nervous system having been established, it is evident that the best
mode of discussing the former will be progressively, with the develop-
ment of tihe latter, commencing at the lowest rung of this nervous ladder
and tracing it upward toward its summit; in other words, to follow instinct
through the animal kingdom, as we find nervous matter developed, from
Its most rudimentary forms until we arrive at the mammalia, in which a
well formed brain exists.

Sponge is almost universally acknowledged to belong to the animal
division, but I am not aware that any person has descended so low in this
scale of creation in search of nervous matter. However, I think I can
satisfactorily display, without the aid of microscopic eyes, its existence to
you, as also that of sensation and instinct. To do this you will permit me
to quote a few sentences from a lecture on "Vitality" delivered by me:

APPENDIX UB" 583

"At this early period it, the germ or young sponge, is endowed with the
power of moving to and fro, which it does by tdhe aid of cilia, or hair-
like appendages attached to its front aspect. Spontaneous motion is pro-
duced by these cilia being made to strike the water much as do the feet
of a dog when swimming. If obstructed in its course by any resisting
body, it rebounds, and circumnavigates it, resuming as soon as possible
its original direction. In this way it paddles itself along, it may be for
hours, or even days, until at length, finding a convenient and desirable
locality, it attaches itself to it for life." Now, what causes this speck, so
to speak, of vitalized matter when in its onward course in search of a
locality adapted for its permanent abode, to rebound on meeting with an
obstruction, and then to circumnavigate the obstacle? My reply is, sensa-
sation and instinct. By the former it feels and comprehends, as dt were,
that a superior force is opposed to it, and the latter, instinct, points out
the way of escape, and afterwards directs it in its straight and original
course. Contrast this with a piece of sea-weed, or a vegetable seed which,
for the sake of argument, we will fancy moving on the surface of water,
and then coming in contact with a piece of wood. What is the result? Why,
instead of rebounding and sailing round the obstacle, cohesive attraction
holds the two together, it may be permanently, at all events until
mechanically separated by the motion of the water. Mark the difference
in their actions, and then the cause must be apparent. The vegetable
production wants what the sponge possesses, i.e., a nervous system, and
consequently it is not endowed with instinct or sensation, and hence has
not the inherent power to perform the evolutions of the embryo sponge.
I wall quote another sentence from the same lecture: "Should the young
animal when in motion come in contact with another of t'he same species,
they coalesce, and the one becomes engrafted, as it were, into the other
so perfectly that in a short period no trace of two distinct germs can be
observed, the two (having merged into one. and now perform all their
actions in common." What is it that here causes this lowest of all aninn's
to distinguish between a foreign body and one of its own species? The
reply again is, sensation and instinct.

Having now sufficiently explained what I mean by the term instinct,
we will rapidly glance at the subject in each of the four divisions into
which naturalists have divided the animal kingdom, and nere I may
premise that which will be evident to you as I progress with the subject.
viz.: that as nervous matter becomes more highly organized and developed,
exactly in that proportion do the instinctive impulses give place to actions,
involving more complex considerations, until finally intelligence and
reason predominate and govern almost altogether the actions and move-
ments of animals possessing these higher modifications of a nervous
system. Animal life, in its lowest type, is embraced by the class termed
"Radiata." They are so named from the fact of the different portions of
the body radiating from the mouth as a centre towards the circumference,
as in the starfish. In this division, a nervous system exists in its most
diminutive and rudimentary form, and consequently we have the instinc-
tive impulses displayed in a very primitive state. The class is vastly
numerous, consisting of very many subdivisions, and among them we find
the sponges, to which I have already directed your attention.

Time will not permit of my alluding to more than one other example
before passing on to the second family, and I know none more interesting
than the Coral Zoophytes, in which we have instinct developed, and almost
solely confined, to one object, viz.. the construction of those animal forests
of the deep, named coral reefs. This instinctive propensity of construe-
tiveness, as observed in these microscopic animalculse, knows or acknow-
ledges no change, but as it was in the beginning with them, so will it be
at the end of time. To say that a coral polype could construct aught else
than coral edifices would be stating something beyond the bounds of pos-
sibility, for the Great Architect of nature, when creating the first animal
of this species, imparted to it this peculiar propensity, or instinct, which
it has transmitted through myriads of generations to those which have a
present existence.

584 APPENDICES

One step higher brings us to the " Mollusca," or second division of
animal life (so named from the softness of their composition). In these
there is no regular and determinate formation observed; diversity as to
symmetry and proportions characterizes the construction of the whole
family. Their nervous system is better marked and of a more complex
nature than thjat of the Radiata, which implies a greater diversity in their
instinctive impulses than is met with in those of the first-named family.
To this class belongs the Cuttle-fish, an aquatic animal, which secretes
and stores up in a proper receptacle an ink-like fluid, which, when it
comes in contact with any foreign body, or is pursued by an enemy, it
forcibly expels and diffuses through the water, darkening it all around,
and in this way often escapes destruction. Here we have an instance of
an instinctive impulse nearly allied to the emotion of fear in the higher
animals. This at first sight might appear as if it were an act of volition,
or of the will, but such is not the case, for the youngest of the species
ejects the fluid under similar circumstances precisely as does the oldest,
and so protects itself from injury. Now if in the more matured animal
intelligence or reason were concerned in the production of this singular
phenomenon, the infant fish would display no more fear (so to speak), or
inclination to escape, than a very young dog or child would, if placed
in similar danger, because it is an established fact, applicable alike to all
animals whose actions in advanced life are guided by an intelligent will,
that in their early existence they are unable to perform the acts of the
parent until time and experience have educated them, and further, that
in such, the instinctive impulses displayed have relation only to their
nutrition.

With this brief notice of the Mollusca, I must next glance at the third
division, or that class of animals designated " Articulata," in which there
is an exact bilateral symmetry of form, and the nervous system for the
most part will admit of a division into two equal parts. In this family
the first rudiments of a brain are detected, which in ilts lowest members
is merely an enlarged ganglion or mass of nervous matter, situated at the
extremity of the animal, that portion called the head. The mere existence
even of an elementary brain will, from what has already been stated,
cause you to expect that all the actions of this class of animals will be
performed, if not with intelligence, at least with a high degree of perfec-
tion as regards its instinctive faculties, and sucih indeed is the case, in
proof of which I have merely to call your attention again to the works of
bees, which, with all other insects, belong to the "Articulata."

An aquatic animal named tfhe "Chaetodon rostratus" is in the habit of
ejecting from its prolonged snout drops of fluid which strike insects that
happen to be near the surface of the water, and cause them to fall into it,
so as to come within its own reach. Now, by the laws of refraction of
light the place of the insect in the air will not really be what it appears
to be to the animal in the water; but it will be a little below its apparent
place, and to this point the aim must be directed. But the difference
between the real and apparent place will not be constant; for the more
perpendicularly the rays enter the water, the less will be the variation;
and, on the other hand, the more oblique is the direction, the greater will
be the difference. Now, it is impossible to imagine, but that by an instinc-
tive perception, the real place of the insect is known to the aquatic animal
in every instance, as perfectly as it could be to the mosit sagacious
human mathematician, or to a clever marksman who had learned the
requisite allowance in each case by a long experience. In short, notwith-
standing the comparatively large increase of nervous matter in this class,
over that of the two divisions beneath it, these and all other articulate
animals seem like, and, indeed, closely resemble, machines constructed
to execute a certain and definite number Of operations, many of them pro-
ducing results which even man, by the highest effects of his reason, has
found it difficult to attain. This brings us to the consideration of the
highest division of the animal creation, viz., the " Vertebrate." In this
class, the brain, even among its lowest members, is distinctly evident,

APPENDIX "B" 585

while in its highest subdivision, " Mammalia," it bears a comparatively
large proportion to the remainder of the structure. In the " Radiata"
and " Mollusca" the functions of the nervous system are evidently
restricted for the most part to the maintenance of the nutritive operations
and to the guidance of the animal by means of its sensory endowments in
the choice of food. In the " Articulata " its purpose appears similar, but
is carried into effect in a different manner, the locomotive organs being the
parts chiefly supplied by it. In the " Vertebrata," on the other hand, the
development of all the organs appears to be subordinate to that of the
nervous system, their object being solely to give to it the means of the
exercise of its powers. This statement is not, of course, as applicable to
the lower vertebrata as it is to the higher, but it is intended to express
the general character of the group. The predominance of the nervous
system is manifested, not only in the increased size of its centres (the
brain and spinal marrow), but also in the special provision which we
here find for the protection of these from injury; and hence the name
Vertebrata, the vertebrae being a continuous line of bones running from
the skull downwards and forming the basis of the back, which collectively
serve as a canal to protect and convey the spinal marrow. The develop-
ment of such large and highly organized masses of nervous matter as is
observed in this division, and in particular the increased size of the brain,
the seat of intelligence and the reasoning faculties, must, if you have
followed and adopted the principles already laid down, at once prepare you
for vastly differenlt results to impressions or sensations from those which
we have met with in the three lower divisions of animal life, where for the
most part unerring instinct follows every sensation.

This increase, then, of nervous matter tends to remove vertebrated
animals from the dominion of undiscerning, uncontrollable instinct, and to
place very many of their operations under the influence of an intelligent
will. Here uniformity, which is so remarkable a characteristic of instinct,
is displaced by diversity of action, by a power of choice and of determina-
tion, guided by perception of the object to be attained and of the means to
be employed, constituting the simplest form of the reasoning faculty;
and the amount of this bears so close a relation to the development of the
brain that it is scarcely possible to regard them as unconnected. This
must be apparent to you all, if you will but notice the progressive increase
in the nature of the actions of the different divisions of this great class,
which will be discussed relatively and in the order of increase of the
nervous matter of the brain.

Fishes and Reptiles are, owing to their physical construction, members
of the vertebrated group, yet they possess little or no intelligence, but are
governed almost entirely by instinctive impulses, which, from the well-
developed state of their locomotive apparatus, are much more varied than
in the classes beneath them. These facts correspond well with the size of
their nervous centres, which are comparatively small, and consequently
tend to bear out the general principle before alluded to. It is worthy of
observation that those animals of the vertebrata which have the smallest
amount of cerebral matter (brain) are the least capable of attachment to
man. I am not aware that any fish or reptile has ever shown this attach-
ment. By being long confined and fed in a limited locality they become
familiar with man's appearance, as I have myself witnessed in zoological
gardens, and in the extensive natural fishpond of Mr. Trott in Bermuda,
but beyond this I imagine they have displayed no intelligence or suscep-
tibility to education. Birds are vertebrated animals in which the brain
bears but a small proportion to the remainder of the body, which implies
that they can possess but a limited amount of intelligence. Indeed their
actions are for the most part the result of instinctive impulses; under the
direction of these they appear to select the place, procure the material
and build themselves nests, as well as rear their young and perform their
migrations. Every species of bird possesses certain instinctive pecu-
liarities, which have been transmitted unchanged in the slightest par-
ticular to the present race from its earliest progenitors, in proof of which

586 APPENDICES

I have but to direct your attention to the nests of swallows, which have
always been the same as to locality, material and construction from the
days of the earliest naturalists.

The Educability and Domesticability of any species of animal depend
on the amount of intelligence and reason with which it is endowed, for no
animal can be taught to perform actions not natural to it unless it possess,
in a considerable degree, the power of memory combined with that of asso-
ciation of ideas. Now we find in the Parrot tribe, which is the most
intelligent of all birds, these powers or endowments displayed to some
extent, and you are all aware that they can be taught to speak and remem-
ber lengthy and varied sentences. In proportion as we find the nervous
system of animals increase, and consequent thereon their intelligence, in
that proportion do we observe an increasing interest and care displayed
on the part of the parent towards its offspring.

Reptiles and Fishes show little or no concern for their eggs after they
have deposited them. Birds, on the contrary, but seldom neglect theirs,
and continue to afford them protection and warmth until the young are
hatched. 1S0 far this action may be considered instinctive and void of
reason, for the mother, as in the case of hens, will often sit the usual
time of incubation on a stone, to which she gives the same care and pro-
tection as if it were in reality her own production. After the young have
been so far matured as to be able to escape from the shell (which act in
itself is highly instinctive) the young bird at the proper period pecks
its prison wall until it is broken, and then, no longer a prisoner, walks
forth into a new existence. Now the early age of the animal performing
this operation precludes the possibility of its being a work of intelligence
involving the reasoning faculties. Then, after its birth, the affection of
the parent, so to speak, gives origin in its solicitude to a wider and more
intelligent range of actions for the purpose of providing its offspring with
food and protecting it from danger. An example in proof of this has been
occasionally witnessed by sportsmen when coming suddenly on a covey
of young ducks or partridges, where the mother, to draw the enemy away
from her young, leaves them, limping as if her leg were actually broken,
and so well does she play this game of deceit that the inexperienced
are frequently deceived. Now this is an act that we must place far beyond
the bounds of instinct, as it involves mental consideration of a high order
in which reason and judgment are brought into action for the purpose of
adapting means adequate to a definite end. All maternal ducks and par-
tridges do not act in this way, otherwise it might be a question whether or
not it was the result of instinct, and hence we may infer on reasonable
grounds that there are clever birds of this species as well as stupid ones.
The parrot tribe not only procure food for their young, but actually swal-
low and disgorge it in order that it may be rendered more palatable and
nutritious by being impregnated with a milky secretion from the interior
of their craw.

It is said that the Ostrich, in very warm climates, merely covers its
eggs with a thin layer of sand, and then leaves them altogether to the
action of the sun, while those occupying more temperate latitudes sit on
theirs and thus give them the requisite amount of heat. This state-
ment has been disputed, but its truth seems to be confirmed by analogy
from a curious observation made by Mr. Knight, that a Flycatcher
which built for several years in one of his hothouses, sat upon its eggs
when the temperature was below 72°, but left them when it was above that
standard. These cases, and particularly the latter, display instinct and
intelligence combined, and acting in concert for a wise end.

It now devolves on me to consider briefly the subject of Instinct in
relation to the Mammalia, or highest division of vertebrated animals, and
as you are already quite familiar with the habits of some of its most dis-
tinguished members, the dog, monkey, elephant, horse, etc. (leaving man
for after consideration) this part of my lecture may be more rapidly
passed over than it could otherwise have been.

In the Mammalia the brain and nervous system is more highly organ-

APPENDIX "B" 587

ized and developed and bears a larger proportion to their whole structure
than is observed in any other class of animals — and in this respect the
monkey holds the most elevated position, its brain not only being rela-
tively larger than all others, but also differing from theirs in having its
surface convoluted, or in folds, as is the case in man. In this class of
animals we find unerring and uncontrollable instinct giving place to div-
ersified and complex actions, requiring for their performance no small
degree of intelligence, reason and judgment, which in man are always
considered as mental manifestations.

The high development or intelligence in Mammalia is evidently due,
in part, to the greatly prolonged connection between the parent and the
offspring, which we find characteristic of this class, and by which the
young animal, in the exercise of its primitive perceptive and reflective
powers, gradually acquires much of the knowledge possessed by the
parent ere it has been cast altogether on its own resources. Thus the
cat may frequently be detected teaching her kittens the art of war as it
relates to the destruction of her prey (mice and rats) and doubtless these
early lessons leave an indelible impression on the memory, which materi-
ally aids them in after life in the prosecution of this their natural war-
fare.

Monkeys and elephants have frequently been known to revenge
themselves in the most ingenious manner on inaividuals to whom they
have taken a dislike from their having either ill-treated them, or
played off some practical joke at their expense, and this revenge has
been known, on the part of the elephant to have been harbored for a
great length of time before its perpetration. Here we have an example,
in the first place of a just perception of an injury, a prolonged act of
memory in retaining it, as well as the appearance of the individual
who at the proper time is identified as the person from whom he or she
received the injury, and lastly we have distinct evidence of reflection
and judgment applied in the adaptation of means to a definite end, or
in other words, in effecting the finale of the story — the punishment of
the individual. What more could man do and what more conclusive
evidence could we have in proof of mind in the common acceptation of
the word.

It is a well known fact that monkeys can recognize an instrument
of destruction, as for example a gun, and they appear to comprehend
the range of their action almost, if not quite as well as a man would
do; to this I can bear testimony from personal observation, having on
several occasions, when riding along the mountain paths of some of the
West India Islands, come suddenly upon them with and without a fowl-
ing piece. If without it they would very coolly step aside just beyond
the range of my riding whip, and in the most impudent manner
imaginable chatter and make grimaces at me — but if I chanced to. have
a gun, no sooner did they see it than off they scampered until out of
harm's way, when they were as impudent as before.

In this tribe we have the powers of imitation more highly
developed than in any other, which in itself displays a great amount of
intelligence. It was only a short time since that a friend of mine de-
tected a recent importation of this tribe setting off a lucifer match by
rubbing it against the sandpaper on the bottom of the box. Jacko, it
appears, had seen the lady performing the operation and, remembering
the effect produced by the friction, took the necessary steps and the
earliest opportunty " to strike a light."

Of the mammalia, dogs are by far the most susceptible of education,
and show the greatest amount of attachment to man, and it is this
attachment which ofiten exhibits, apparently as subordinate to it, the
high degree of intelligence possessed hy this species. Well authenti-
cated instances are on record of dogs having been the means of saving
the lives of their masters, under circumstances which have displayed
quite as much intelligence as is met with in some individuals of the
human species.

88 APPENDICES

I remember hearing of a case in point: A woodsman in felling a
tree turned it towards instead of from him and before he could jump
aside, was firmly pinned to the earth by it. The immense superincum-
bent weight prevented his extricating himself from this perilous situation
and it, together with the injuries he had received, must very speedily
have terminated his existence had he not received assistance. In a very
short time, and when he had given himself up for lost, there being no
habitation or person within call, he was relieved from a painful death
by the arrival of his friends. How they came to be aware of his situa-
tion he could not imagine until on enquiry he was told that a favorite
dog which had accompanied him to the woods had returned, and by
howling and scratching at the door had gained admittance to the
prisoner's house. The inmates at once observed something unusual in
his actions, as he would howl and then earnestly look and run towards
the door as if he wished them to follow him. This they did not do until
he took hold of their garments with his teeth, and attempted to pull
them forward. At length, suspecting an accident, they followed the
animal, which immediately took the direction that thtey knew the man
had gone in the morning, the sagacious1 animal all the time exhibiting by
his actions evident delight. Very shortly they reached the place -and
found the poor man in the situation I have described.

There are undoubtedly both stupid and intelligent dogs, and the
great mass of them would, it is more than probable, have been incapable
of performing the same part in a similar scene. The intelligence here
displayed was prompted by affection, and it is more than probable that
had a stranger been similarly situated this dog would not have been the
means of saving his life, but would have passed on without giving the
matter a second thought, for although intellectually adequate to effect-
ing his relief, as has been shown, he would in the case of the stranger
be morally incompetent, if I may so express it; for, in the assumed case
there would be the want of that affection, which in the reality excited
and prompted to energetic action all the intelligent endowments of the
animal that could possibly be brought to bear on the case in question.
Now, we may reasonably suppose that, if instead of being crushed and
imprisoned beneath a tree, his master had fallen into a body of water
the dog would not have sought elsewhere for aid, but would have acted,
as many of the same species have done under circumstances precisely
similar to those here assumed, that is, he would have trusted to his own
physical ability, in the art of swimming, to have saved his master.
Hence the inference is striking (at least it is to me), that both tlhe
mental processes, Reason and Judgment, must have been brought
forcibly into action to have prompted this dumb animal, when he per-
ceived his own inability to rescue the man, to seek for adventitious aid.
Again, observe what a depth of intelligence was shown in making the
friends comprehend that an accident had occurred; here was shown an
amount of rationality, quite equal to that which would have been exer-
cised by an educated and intelligent deaf and dumb person, who would
have acted precisely the same part had he witnessed the accident and
considered himself unable to afford the prisoner relief; with this
exception, he, instead of using his teeth would have pulled the Mends
with his hands in the direction he wished them to go — or if he were
sufficiently self-possessed, and the material were at hand, he would have
conveyed his wishes to the people either by talking to them with his
fingers, or in writing, speech and its accompaniment being endowments
which the human being, even in this imperfect and unfortunate state,
can exercise, because it was so willed in Ms creation, but which are
denied the dog and all other animals from the less perfect state of their
mental and physical construction.

Nov/, if it is mind that would enable the deaf and dumb man thus
to act, and who can deny it, surely it must be one and the same prin-
ciple which actuated the dog in this instance, and that principle is
mind in every sense of the word, which differs nothing in kind from

APPEXDIX "B" 589

that ol the human being but only in degree. At least this train of
argument brings me to that conclusion. You perhaps may differ from
me.

There are very many cases narrated where this species of mam-
malia has exhibited quite as much intelligence as in that just alluded
to. The Alpine dog of St. Bernard, and the shepherd dog of the
Scottish highlands are, as you must all know, particularly intelligent.
Of one of the latter it may not be amiss for me to narrate an anecdote,
the authenticity of which I can vouch for. I resided for some months
in the house of a highland farmer on the " Isle of Bute " where I had
frequent opportunities of observing the sagacity of the shepherd dog,
which in some cases is truly remarkable, but the anecdote I allude to
was told me by the farmer, and relates to the musical ear of one of
these animals. The old gentleman was in the habit of having family
worship every night, at which they all joined in singing a Psalm, the
tunes being always the same as those they were accustomed to sing at
the Kirk. As regularly as the night came, an old dog was in the habit of
marching leisurely into prayers with the farm servants, and stretching
himself before .the fire. Improvements in music as well as everything
else must take place, and in the course of time the old parish precentor
died and another occupied his place, who introduced a new set of tunes
which the old man informed me were "nae sa gude as the auld anes."'
But the march of improvement was onward and the younger members
of his family learned them, and at length proposed that they should
displace the old ones at the family altar. The old gentleman reluct-
antly consented, so one night the new tune was pitched and everything
went on smoothly for a brief space, when up jumped the dog from
before the fire and began to howl so as to destroy completely the effect
of the music. They stopped for an instant and the dog reclined as
before, but no sooner did they commence again than he began to growl
and bark, looking angrily at each of the offenders in turn. This would
not do, so he was forcibly ejected. The next night the same scene was
enacted, so, suspecting what was wrong they changed the tune to the
Old Hundred, or something of the kind, which appeared to act like
laudanum on him, for under its influence he soon was sleeping. The
end of it was that the poor dog was not again allowed to join in their
evening devotions, and the old man observed in finishing the story,
" the bairns thought the dug was daft," but his opinion was that " he
was a vera sagacious dug." After all that has been said I think you
will agree with me in thinking that the term "half-reasoning" which
is often applied to elephants, dogs and monkeys is not sufficient to ex-
press the full extent of their intellectual faculties, but on the contrary,
in very many cases, we should substitute for " half " the word ivhole,
which is alone adequate to the reality, at all events it (the latter) is a
nearer approximation to the truth than the former. Still, we must bear
in mind that, contrasted with man, these faculties are but limited and
confined, as to their sphere of action, for the most part within a very
narrow range; perhaps in the generality of cases they will bear com-
parison with the mental endowments of a child three or four years of
age; or in some respects the analogy would be a nearer approach to a
reality if we compare the mind of these animals to that of a man under
tne influence of some forms of insanity, in whom there is a constant
succession of ill-connected ideas passing rapidly through his brain.
This is the case with dogs for instance, but when under the influence
of strong external impressions or sensations, they have the power of
changing at will the current of their thoughts and fixing them on some-
thing definite for a greater or less time, as was the case with the
woodsman's dog; but remove these sensations and then the analogy
continues. Now an insane man, such as I allude to, possesses not the
power to change at will his swiftly passing ideas, and to substitute
others in their stead, however strong the impressions or sensations may

590 APPENDICES

be. An idiot can only be contrasted, as regards intelligence, with the
young mammalia, as for example with a pup or human infant where
instinct alone exists, whiich thus early in life is directed solely towards
the supply of its nutritive wants. An intelligent dog is in this respect
placed as far above an idiot as man is superior to the whole canine
race. I do not mean to infer by speaking thus that the lower animals
perform all their acts under the influence of an intelligent will; on the
contrary, such a conclusion would be erroneous. They, and man also,
have instinctive impulses incorporated with their very existence which,
for the most part, are connected with their nutritive actions, and in the
more matured animals the impulses become so amalgamated, as it were,
with intelligence, that the line of demarkation cannot be definitely
drawn between the two, and therefore, to study Instinct independently
in this group we must do it in their early life.

MIND.

With this lengthy and very imperfect notice of the first division of
my subject, I must now briefly discuss the second portion of it, or Mind.

Much that should properly come under this division has been already
anticipated by the frequent allusions made to mental manifestations, in
illustration of facts connected with instinct. I therefore may consistently
abbreviate where it would otherwise have been necessary for me to have
entered more into detail. Having no inclination to be lost in a meta-
physical wilderness, I must confine myself, as was stated in my preliminary
remarks, to the discussion of Mind as a branch of physiology.

Mind! What is it? is a question which I dare say every individual
here present has at some period proposed to himself or others for the
purpose of eliciting information and removing that misty veil behind
which this great receptacle and source of all human knowledge lies con-
cealed. Thought chases thought through mind itself, seeking for a satis-
factory reply, yet none is found, and this hidden principle which has
conceived the question and applied itself with all its subtle ingenuity to
its solution, at length confesses its inability to reveal its true nature. In
other words, the mind of man knows not itself. The physiologist, while
he hesitates not to acknowledge his ignorance of the nature of that great
principle, applies himself to the study of its manifestations or the
phenomena peculiar to and emanating from it. Not so a class of
philosophers named materialists from the nature of their belief. These
men assume that mind is material, a principle composed of matter, as
is its material tenement, the brain. Sophistry and argument, such as it
is, have been exhausted in aid of this doctrine, and that, too, by men
of no mean mental calibre. Common sense and reason, however, at
once oppose and disprove an assumption so dangerous, which must appear
evident to you after the term matter has been defined. By matter in
philosophy is meant something that can be brought within the sphere
of action of some one or other of our external senses, as sight, hearing,
taste, smell or touch, so that an impression is made through the agency
of one or more of these on the mind, by which it is enabled to have a
just conception of its physical constitution or composition. Now while
this act may be performed directly, as when I take up this candlestick,
touch and vision combined give me a correct idea of it, and prove to me
that it is a body possessed of extension and solidity; but very frequently
we have to prove the existence of matter indirectly; in other words, we
have to bring that which is not perceptible to any of our senses within
range of their action. Thus. I can neither see, hear, taste, smell or feel
the atmosphere of this room, yet a very simple experiment will prove
to you that such exists, as when I plunge an inverted tumbler into this
basin you will perceive that no water enters it. Why not? Because it
is a law in natural philosophy that where one body is another cannot
be, or where matter of one description exists there nothing else material
can be at one and the same time. Then this experiment demonstrates
distinctly the presence of a certain something that is material, which
we here term atmosphere, for if the tumbler contained nothing, that is

APPENDIX "B" 591

nothing material, the water of the basin, in obedience to a well known
law of nature, would instantly enter it. The same could be indirectly
and quickly proved in another way, viz., by igniting phosphorus in a
closed vessel containing air. Now, although we are conscious of its exist-
ence, the principle of mind, which I call immaterial, has not, and cannot,
either directly or indirectly, be brought within the sphere of action of
any one of our external senses. In the common acceptation of the words,
no living being has either seen, heard, felt or tasted it, hence the fallacy
of the material doctrine. Figuratively speaking, however, we daily see
it in the arts, hear it in the sciences, feel its power as we view the works
of nature and contrast her human offspring with the inferior members
of the animal creation, and when in the pursuit of knowledge we hourly
taste its sweets, as the effects of mind become revealed to us, through
the medium of the mental labor and efforts of others of our species.

The philosopher is aware that there are two principles in nature —
Heat and Electricity. How does he know this? By their effects on
physical agents, or in other words by their manifestations as displayed
by certain trains of phenomena peculiar to each; but does he possess any
knowledge of the principle or source from which emanate these
phenomena? No, he does not. Just so it is with the metaphysician, or
the mental physiologist. He feels, is conscious, in short is morally
certain that a principle which he designates Mind holds its seat in the
brain of man but he knows this only by its phenomena or mental mani-
festations; further than this he knows nothing. In speaking thus my
object has been merely to establish that mind is not matter in the com-
mon acceptation of that term, and in so doing to confess (beyond this)
my utter ignorance of its nature. The brain is the only seat of mind,
and without this, its material tenement, none of the phenomena peculiar
to it can be demonstrated. Could we but fancy man as an adult,
without this seat of wisdom, we would have to picture him a mere
creature of instinctive impulses, allied to the lowest animals of crea-
tion. Children have actually been bora, and have even lived for some
weeks, in whom no brain existed. They for the most part lay motion-
less and exhibited not even nutritive instinct, but when food was placed
in their mouths it was swallowed under the influence of a power in-
herent in the spinal cord termed " Reflex Action."

The brain of man is larger in proportion to the remainder of his
structure than we find it elsewhere in the animal kingdom. This
accords well with that general principle to which I have before alluded,
viz., that in the same ratio as the nervous system increases do we find
intelligence and reason developed.

The human infant, as I have before stated, is an instinctive animal,
its impulses being almost altogether subservient to its nutrition. In it
mind resembles the vegetable germ or seed, which being placed in cir-
cumstances favorable to its growth, strikes its roots deep into the
earth and sends upwards its stem, branching in all directions, adding
variety and beauty to a landscape that would otherwise be characterized
by sameness — and in proportion to the amount of nourishment it
receives from its ever active rootlets does it produce fruit and display
its extent of surface and beauties of foliage. Now, the child inherits by
creation the germ, or seed of Mind, which in infancy lies dormant, as
it were, Instinct then predominating. Time, which changes all things,
here works wonders, for ere long this germ is observed to exhibit evi-
dent signs of vitality and growth. Its nourishment is education which
speedily develops mental phenomena, and in so doing displaces instinct,
or renders it less perceptible. Gradually, and in proportion to the
amount of nutriment received, does this figurative plant increase, until
at length the majestic tree is formed, not perfect, never stationary, but
always growing. Its summit, where is it? Why, it reaches far beyond
the clouds, yes, even without the range of telescopic eyes, into space
indefinite. The mariner may sound, and fail to reach the ocean's bed.
The miner in search of mineral wealth may approach earth's centre;

592 APPENDICES

'tis but an approach, and ere these have anticipated means to effect
their ends, the deep and descending roots of this figurative plant have
accomplished it. Who can measure the branches of this tree, extending
as they do north and south beyond the poles, east and west into space,
leaving far behind the extremes of latitude? One only! and He is not
a human mathematician. Wihat description of fruit is it that this incom-
prehensible tree brings forth? The reply is embraced in that short
but comprehensive word "knowledge,", which is obtained alike from its
summit, as it penetrates the starry firmament, its roots which search
the bowels of the earth, and its evergreen branches as they extend
themselves beyond the four cardinal points into space interminable.
Then, as grows the forest tree from a diminutive little seed, so it is
that Mind is developed from a little germ which always increases and
produces its peculiar fruit "knowledge," so grateful and pleasant that
rational man has but to taste its sweets and then he thirsts for more,
and ceases not to drink until vitality is lost to mind's material tene-
ment. What can be more interesting and instructive than to watch the
growth of this mental germ, tracing it from infancy to 'manhood, and
witnessing the diversity of its actions, contrasted with those of mere
instinct, observing the gradual development of its perceptive, reflective
and abstractive powers, until at length the mental tree in its maturity
displays its full capabilities in the production of its peculiar fruiit.
'Tis in this way, and this way only, that man can study the human
mind, and learn to draw the line of demarkation between it and that
possessed by the lower animals.

The locality of mind being established it is easy to comprehend how
it is that mental actions exert their influence over the whole animal
economy. The explanation is as follows: Continuous with the brain are
the spinal marrow and numerous nerves, which latter are minutely dis-
tributed over every part and parcel of the body. These nerves arising
either directly from the brain or indirectly through the medium of the
spinal cord are of a fibrous nature, i.e. thread-like, and contained
within each sheath are two distinct sets of fibres which run all the way
from the brain to their points of distribution, without communicating
with each other. One set of these fibres, the sensory, convey all the
sensations, natural or adventitious, from the periphery, i.e., the extreme
points of distribution, to the centre, or brain, by which the mind is made
conversant with and informed as to the nature of (the sensation, and
then it (the Mind) acts on the instant, through the other set, or motor
fibres, which are under the influence of the will, and convey its dic-
tates to the part from whence the sensation had its origin. For in-
stance, if you burn your finger, the sensory fibres convey the sensation
to the brain where the mind comprehends and feels the injury, and
quicker than thought it acts through the agency of the motor fibres on
the muscles of the forearm, which remove it from further injury.

This general and brief notice of the relationship existing between
the " thinking principle " and the nervous system must suffice for the
present, as my time is too limited to permit me to enter more into
detail. The nervous system then is the medium by which the mind
rules and governs the body. Either being affected by disease reacts on
the other, and it is in this way that, the corporeal man being prostrated,
oftentimes produces mental debility, as well in the strongest as in the
weakest minds, and vice versa. A fever may place a philosopher on a
level with the lowest quadruped, by undermining his source of thought,
and he who in health could compose a " Paradise Lost," or govern a
nation with gigantic mind, cannot now concentrate or associate his
ideas on any one object; vague and ill connected thoughts chase each
other, as in dreaming, or in some forms of insanity, through a mind
diseased; reason is dethroned, delirium reigns. It is the entire absence
of or the comparatively undeveloped state of Mind in the lower animals
that enables them to recover from severe injuries, which if inflicted on
man would speedily terminate his existence. Mental Emotions acting

APPENDIX "B" 593

through the agency of the nervous system produce most singular results
on the animal economy, even when in a state of health. Thus " anger "
in some individuals has frequently thrown portions of the muscular
system into violent spasmodic action. A case of this nature occurred
not very long ago in the practice of a medical friend, in which, by
indulging in an excess of passion, a man was converted into a complete
arch, and rested for the space of more than an hour on his heels and the
back of his head — the muscles of the back being the ones implicated.
The habit of yielding to ungovernable rage often produces temporary
maniacal excitement, and sometimes even permanent insanity. Here
the balance between the feelings and the judgment, which is so beauti-
fully adjusted in the well ordered mind of man, is disturbed. All the
organic functions of the body are influenced, more or less, by the mental
state. Thus a nurse or mother by indulging in excesses of anger or
grief may either destroy or light up serious disease in the infant she
nourishes and cherishes. Professor Alison mentions in his lectures the
following case in illustration of this fact: "A carpenter fell into a
quarrel with a soldier billeted in his house, and was set upon by the
latter with his drawn sword. The wife of the carpenter at first trembled
from fear and terror, and then suddenly threw herself furiously between
the combatants, wrested the sword from the soldier's hand, broke it in
pieces and threw it away. During the tumult some neighbors came in
and separated the men. While in this state of strong excitement the
mother took up her child from the cradle where it lay playing, and in
the most .perfect health, never having had a moment's illness; she gave
it the breast, and in so doing sealed its fate. In a few minutes the
infant became restless, panted and sank dead upon its mother's bosom.
The physician who was instantly called in found the child lying in the
cradle as if asleep and with its features undisturbed; but all his
resources were fruitless — it was irrecoverably gone." Other cases
analagous to this have been observed in the human species; but they
are of more frequent occurrence among the lower animals. Grief, as
you all know, generally causes a rapid flow of the lachrymal secretion
(or tears), but if the emotion be intense, tears do not respond to it,
because the mental shock acts so powerfully on the lachrymal glands
through the medium of the nerves supplying them, as to deprive them of
their natural action, and in these extreme cases it is only when the
grief is abated that the tears flow. Insanity and idiocy have often been
produced by this emotion. Bad news and sorrow have frequently been
known to change the odor of the breath and color of the hair.

Fear produces results on the animal economy nearly allied to those
of grief, sometimes completely prostrating both mind and body. This
was fearfully demonstrated, to the destruction of thousands of human
beings, during the time of cholera in Europe and America; for very gen-
erally those persons who were alarmed and dreaded the disease took it
on the slightest exposure and died. Alison mentions several cases in
proof of this. One was that of a gentleman who had not been in any
way exposed to the influence of the disease. One day whilst walking
along a comparatively unfrequented street he came suddenly in sight
of the " death cart " and instantly dropped down, unable to move; the
cholera attacked him immediately and in an hour he was dead. This
person had from the first appearance of the disease in Edinburgh shown
the utmost fear of it and ere long added another name to the list of vic-
tims. In all these cases both mind and body have been prostrated by
the emotion of fear to such an extent that reaction on the accession of
disease is beyond the bounds of possibility. The absence of fear caused
by familiarity with the ills of mankind, is, the great secret of the medi-
cal man's escaping this and diseases of a contagious nature. This emo-
tion frequently alters and even checks, as in grief, the secretions of the
body, as for example the saliva. In some parts of India this is brought
practically to bear in the detection of theft. If a master suspects a
servant of having stolen his property he fills the mouths of all his
domestics with rice. Those who are innocent, not being under the
38

594 APPENDICES

influence of fear and a guilty conscience, have the usual quantity, or near
it, of saliva mixed with the rice, which is soon quite wet. The real
offender on the contrary delivers up his in a comparatively dry state,
because in him, guilt and fear of detection have so affected his mind
that it reacts through the medium of the nervous system on the salivary
glands, and either partially or wholly stops the secretion, and conse-
quently he is scientifically detected. All the emotions, fear, grief,
anger, joy, etc., 'differ from Instinct, and yet are hut partially subject
to the will; consequently they hold a kind of intermediate position.
The mind conceives the peculiar sensation or feeling producing them,
yet it is only capable of partially subjecting them to its influence and
sometimes not even at all. Thus, grief and fear may be so intense as
not to be in the slightest degree under the command of the will, oftener
however a volitionary effort may contr.ol them to a certain extent.

After exercise the physical man requires repose; with mind it is the
same, and it is more than probable that whilst sleeping soundly there
is a complete cessation of thought, but, when the mental sleep is less
profound dreaming and somnambulism occur, these being phenomena
concerning which we know but little. In dreaming the will has not the
slightest control over the train of ideas that are rapidly passing
through the brain, consequently our minds are then closely allied to
those of the lower animals and some insane persons. It is a singular
and inexplicable fact ithat in this state, thought, if it may be so called,
is much more active than when we are awake, as I daresay you have all
noticed at times that a succession of ideas (generally having relation
to something with which the mind has been previously occupied) which,
in a waking state, would require hours for their completion, are gone
through and ended in the brief period of a few minutes. In somnam-
bulism the ideas are more fixed and connected, so much so that at
times a conversation may be carried on and answers elicited to ques-
tions which have reference to the particular train of thought with which
the mind is then occupied. Still, volition, under these circumstances,
appears to exercise but a very limited control over the partially con-
scious individual. Persons in this state often rise from their beds and
walk even long distances, without having any after knowledge of it, and
sometimes perform most dangerous feats, which, dn their waking
moments, they would hardly dare attempt, or if they did, would probably
fail in their performance. Spectral illusions or seeing things when in a
healthy state that have no actual existence are of common occurrence.
There is no certainty regarding their cause, but it is probable that they
are the result of congestion or unnatural fullness of the blood vessels
supplying the optic nerves, which by pressure impair their function.
Professor Traill knew a man, an old army captain who had served
under Wolfe at the siege of Quebec, in whom these spectra were of a
singular character. One morning while lying awake in bed he saw the
whole of that battle from its commencement to its end pictured on the
wall of his room. The death of his general and the acts that he him-
self had performed were prominently before him, as indeed was every
particular and feature of that sanguinary scene. Thinking that it was
a symptom of approaching insanity he sent immediately for Dr. Traill,
who at once detected the nature of the illusion and satisfactorily allayed
his fears. In " delirium tremens," a disease consequent on habitual
drunkenness, sipectral illusions are of common occurrence, but these are
accounted for by the existence at the time of a morbid state of the
brain. Insanity, or mental disease, has already been frequently alluded
to in illustration of certain facts connected with my subject. It takes
so many forms and originates from such varied causes that no satis-
factory account of it could be given within my narrow limits; there-
fore the references already made to it, must suffice for the present
occasion.

When concluding my remarks on Instinct I stated that some of the
higher mammalia, as dogs, horses, elephants, etc., were possessed of

APPENDIX "B" 595

intellectual endowments differing from those of man, not in kind but in
degree, and which hear the same relation to mind's material tenement,
in them, as in the human species. Before finishing I will briefly con-
sider this difference in degree in some of its most prominent features
by which the minds of man and beast will be displayed in contrast.

I am not aware that any of the lower animals ever again acknow-
ledge their young as their offspring, or show the slightest preference
for their society after they have been once fairly thrown on their own
resources How different is this from what we have all witnessed in
our own species. A mother may, from long absence, forget it/he appear-
ance and manners of her offspring, but in this respect only is she for-
getful. Her affection and solicitude for her children commence with
the first breath they draw and cease with her last.

The lower animals exhibit occasionally memory to a considerable
extent, thus dogs and elephants have recognized individuals to whom
they have been attached after a separation of years. In them this
mental act appears to be for the most part blended with and subordinate
to another phenomenon of Mind, viz., affection. But what is this con-
trasted with the memory of a Bloomfield who, when a poor shoemaker
working in a garret, composed, revised and corrected his " Farmer's
Boy " without committing a single line of it to paper. The well
developed memory of man knows no limits, acknowledges no bounds.
Not satisfied with a knowledge of earth and its contents, it draws into
its vortex and there imprisons the ocean with its myriads of inhabi-
tants— the arched canopy above us with its innumerable radiant bodies.
All these can it contain and govern as it were by the will, calling forth
at pleasure through its ever open doors what and which of these it
chooses; yet, notwithstanding this immensity of knowledge, the enquir-
ing mind thirsts and craves for more. In short, man's memory can be
contrasted only as to elasticity and extent with man's imagination.
By its instrumentality he, while preparing for the present is not for-
getful of the future, of which the lower animals are entirely ignorant;
and to-day make no preparation for the morrow, unless Instinct urge
them to the act.

The natural philosopher quotes as one of the greatest examples of
extension and divisibility of matter the following: A single grain of
gold may be hammered by a gold beater until it will cover fifty square
inches, and each square inch may be divided into 40,000 visible parts,
and if the remaining 49 square inches be similarly divided this single
grain of golden matter will give a total of two million parts, which may
be seen by the naked eye. It has also been calculated that 16 ounces
of gold, which in the form of a cube would not measure one inch and a
quarter in its side, will completely gild a quantity of silver wire suffi-
cient to surround the earth. This is certainly material extension and
divisibility carried to a wonderful extent, but apply the figurative gold
beater education to mental extension and divisibility and the material
example above alluded to will bear comparison with it only as a grain
of sand can be contrasted as to size with the globe we inhabit.

Above all other characteristics of Mind in its most elevated degree,
is Speech, with which, by creation, the human family was alone en-
dowed, all other animals being deprived of it and consequently of the
means of expressing by articulate sounds their feelings, and limited
thoughts. It is the possession of speech which in man displays in most
vivid colors his powers of Mind. In fine, language is the artist which
gives to the landscape Mind, already diversified and picturesque, its
finishing touches and makes man a moral, social and intellectual being
admirably adapted to play his part on the stage of life and to govern
by his superior wisdom those lower in the scale of animal existence
than himself.

It is a singular fact, and well worthy of note, as it forms a link In
a chain of evidence which tends to prove what some have labored hard

596 APPENDICES

to disprove, viz., that men of all nations, no matter what their language
may be, have one innate tendency, nothing analogous to which exists
elsewhere than in the human family, and which we might term an
Instinct, were it not that thje designation (is generally applied to pro-
pensities of a much lower character. I allude to that which
seems universal in man, to believe in some unseen existence.
This may take various forms but it is never entirely absent from
any race or nation, although like other innate tendencies it may be
deficient in individuals. Travellers have occasionally tried to refute
this, but it is generally believed that they have done so on unsound
premises. I will close these comparisons of degree in the Intel1 ectual
endowments of man and beast by glancing hurriedly at the educability
of the two. The dog, horse, monkey and elephant display among the
lower animals the greatest susceptibility to mental improvement, yet
how limited is its degree conlfcrasted with that of man. The dog of the
19th century varies in this respect but little from those of its species
which lived in the ninth century. Look to the history of man as a
mental or intellectual being. Mark his present state in civilized Europe
and contrast him with his progenitors of 1000 years since, then ask
yourselves the question, what is it that has wrought a change so won-
derful, an improvement so miraculous in his state? The reply will be
forced upon you — the educability of his Mind. It may be asked in
reference to this subject whether or not Mind, or rather I should say
mental ability, is hereditary? Viewing this question within narrow
limits, or as it relates to individuals, ilt would appear doubtful; but
looking at it in connection with the history of nations we can have
little hesitation in replying in the affirmative. Every person is aware
that physical endowments are, like certain diseases, hereditary, as for
example, the features of the countenance. Then, if this be the case, why
may not the same law Ibe applicable to the features of the mind?
Analogy derived from the lower animals is also in favor of the affirma-
tive view of the case, as it has been frequently remarked that the off-
spring of intelligent dogs and others of the mammalia are generally more
readily trained and educated than the young of the more stupid, so to
speak, of the same species. Applying this conclusion to the educability
of the most mentally degraded of the human family, the African bush-
man, or New Holland savage, these as nations would require centuries
to reach the European in point of civilization, with its moral and intel-
lectual accompaniments.

There are more than 800,000,000 members of the human family
scattered over the surface of the earth, and of this immense number no
two are physically alike. Diversity as great, or even more marked than
this, characterizes our species when mentally considered, for each and
every mind has its own peculiar mould, and differs in some particular
feature or features, from that of its fellows. It is to this mental
diversity that we of the 19th century are indebted for the immense and
varied accumulation of knowledge which meets us at every step — the
greater portion of which we can lay claim to as our birthrights.
Nature, the arts and sciences are not now, as formerly, either hidden
from our sight by the veil of " universal ignorance," or placed beyond
our pecuniary means; on the contrary, the efforts of those who have
preceded us on life's changing stage, have gradually, and to a great
extent removed this veil, and portrayed them in all their wonderful
beauties to our admiring gaze, and that, too, in such a manner as to be
within reach of all who have the inclination to drink from the spring
of knowledge. " Money," it has been said, " is the root of all evil."
While I am willing to admit that it often does incalculable injury to
individuals I think I can name a worse root to the tree of evil. It is
mental lethargy or idleness, the great clog to education, and the true
source of by far the larger proportion of crime, unhappiness and
miserable poverty which characterize the present age. The acquire-
ment of useful and scientific information is, on the contrary, one of the

APPENDIX "B" 597

greatest sources of happiness which man possesses, and w.hen the mind
is thus occupied, of course in moderation, there is nothing more con-
ducive to health, for it (the mind), then reacts upon and exerts a
wonderful influence over the corporeal man, imparting to his entire
organization its healthy and happy tone. An anecdote told of an old
and experienced sea captain may here be apropos. This person when
at sea never allowed his men to be a moment idle — " constant employ-
ment " was his motto. One day his mate came to him and said, " I can
find nothing more for the 'hands to do, sir." "Whait, nothing to do?"
replied his commander; "then something must be found for them to do."
He then put question after question to the first officer in order to see if
everything had been done, to which the invariable reply was " Yes, sir."
At last, when fairly at his wit's end, a bright idea struck him, and on
the instant he cried out, " Set all hands to work to scour the anchor."
Now this man was a philosopher although it is probable he was ignorant
of the fact, for he was practically conversant with the effects of idleness
on the human constitution, and knew that it produced unhappiness and
discontent; and like a skilful physician he prescribed a remedy — a kind
of friction pill, which in this case produced healthy action of the body,
and secondary to this, a like tone of mind, dispersing discontent and
mischief, and in their stead substituting a happy cheerfulness in the
minds of his crew.

There are many who, lacking the inclination to seek information
and being afflicted with this lethargy or idleness, would screen them-
selves under the cloak of mental inability; to such as these one might
with propriety say, " Scour tne anchor," or in other words tell them to
apply the friction of education to their minds, which will very speedily
raise to its proper level this imaginary obstacle, and render the path of
knowledge smooth. Is it not a ipleasure, I would ask, for the carpenter,
as he follows his occupation, to know that the vegetable production he
is moulding by his art to suit his purpose, was created originally to
serve a wise end in nature — that it had inherent in it the power of
selecting its food from the earth and atmosphere, and that in life it
served perhaps to aid in the support of his own vitality, by generating
in its leaves oxygen gas, or that principle, which, when taken into the
lungs vitalizes and purifies the blood? Does it not afford the blacksmith
equal gratification, while physically exerting himself at the forge, to
cause his thoughts to recur to the natural history of the mineral pro-
duction he is shaping into useful form, and to follow its changes by the
arts, from the time it left its native bed until moulded beneath his ham-
mer? Most assuredly it does. Besides, the man who thus obtains and
exercises a knowledge of nature, the arts and sciences, is not only intel-
lectually elevated above the ignorant, but he is also morally their
superior. I say morally because I cannot but think that when the
Almighty placed the germ of mind in the human brain and gave it the
powers of extension, that He wished its possessor to exercise these
powers and not to allow them to remain in a dormant state, but to grow,
as does the oak, from a diminutive seed, until it becomes the majestic
tree.

In short, ladies and gentlemen, 'tis education that forms the mind,
'tis the mind that makes the man, and it is the man, plurally and col-
lectively considered, that makes the nation; hence it is the food and
fruit of mind (or education and knowledge) that give character and
power to empires. What is it, I would ask, that has made England what
she is, the most powerful kingdom on the habitable globe? We must all
admit that it is education. There man is measured not so much by his
broad acres, the depth of his purse, or the appearance of his exterior,
as by his mental calibre — in proof of which I need but call your atten-
tion to Elihu Burritt, the learned blacksmith of *he United States who,
during his recent visit to Britain, was treated by her sons among all
classes from the highest to the lowest as if he were now what it is not
improbable he may become, the ruler of a nation, instead of being the
master of a forge.

598 APPENDICES

The relative value of physical, earthly or material endowments and
mental acquirements, whether the latter be the result of self-education
or otherwise, cannot be better or more beautifully expressed than in the
words of one of the ablest and best of philosophers, Dr. Watts, who,
when hearing an impertinent remark, having reference to his own per-
sonal appearance, on the spur of the moment replied, in the spirit of
poetry and reproof:

"Were I so tall to reach the sky,
Or grasp the ocean in my span;
I would be measured by my mind,
Mind is the standard of the Man."

APPENDIX " C."

NOTES OF SOME UNUSUAL CASES OF DISEASE, INVOLVING

PRIMARILY, THE SKIN COVERING THE

MAMMARY GLAND.

By D. McN. Pabkee, M.D., Halifax, N.S,

Read before the Nova Scotia Medical Association, July, 1889.

Many years ago I met with a case of mammary skin disease
possessing rare characteristics, which interested me at the time and
gave me some trouble to know where to place it, pathologically It
exhibited some of the prominent external features of Idiopathic Cheloid,
and had a general resemblance in its early stages to the two cases of
this disease to which I shall presently call your attention. A few years
later I met with a second case commencing much in the same way, with
very similar conditions and symptoms. In both superficial ulceration
was present peculiar in appearance, erratic, and slow in its progress.

In the last case this ulcerative process spread itself over a larger
area of skin than that covering the gland, and was occasionally attended
by troublesome hemorrhages. I have no notes of these cases, and my
memory does not sufficiently serve me to enable me to enter into minute
details, but I recollect that the only work in which I could, find any-
thing approaching a correct representation of their anatomical char-
acters was " Paget's Surgical Pathology." The article which deals with
the subject is more accurately descriptive of the appearance and pro-
gress of the first than of the second case.

I now quote the paragraph in full; it occurs in the chapter relating
to cancer of the breast. " A second series of hard cancers, deviating
from the usual forms, consists of cases in which the nipple and the
skin or other tissues of the mammary gland are peculiarly affected." I
omit his statement relating to the nipple, and give you the words he
uses in connection with the skin. " In other cases we find the skin
over and about the mammary gland exceedingly affected. In a wide
and constantly, though slowly, widening area, the integument becomes
hard, thick, brawny and almost inflexible. The surface of the skin is
generally florid or dusky with congestion of blood; and the orifices of
the follicles appear enlarged, as if one saw it magnified — it looks like
leather. The portion thus affected has an irregular outline, beyond
which, cord-like offshoots, or isolated cancerous tubercles are some-
times seen, like those which are common as secondary formations. The
mammary gland itself in such cases may be the seat of any form of
hard cancer; but I think that at last it generally suffers atrophy, be-
coming whether cancerous or not. more and more thin and dry, while
the skin contracts and is drawn tightly on the bony walls of the chest,
and then becomes firmly fixed to them."

In connection with these two cases I have only to add that I de-
clined to operate and both died after prolonged illnesses. My impression
is that at the period of death they were from 40 to 45 years of age.

The cases now about to be the subject of remark differ materially
from those just referred to. These also, are rare, and as I do not find
this special form of disease included in our medical nomenclature I
shall take the liberty to designate it for the time being with a name,

599

600 APPENDICES

which will at once suggest its anatomical character, nature, and ter-
mination, viz., Malignant Cheloid. The variety of cheloid with which
we are most familiar, is the Cicatrical or Traumatic, which frequently
follows burns, scalds, certain eruptions, and local strumous affections.
It is, however, to the more rare variety, the Idiopathic or Spontaneous,
that I would now ask your attention for a few minutes. This very
interesting skin disease has but seldom crossed my path, and I have had
but limited opportunities of studying it clinically, consequently I
hesitate to take ground which seems to be opposed to the teaching of
several recognized authorities. But, being persuaded that there is a
type of the disease which, beyond all doubt is malignant, I deem it my
duty to give expression to that opinion. The profession generally
appear to have been impressed with the belief that it is comparatively
unimportant, and is exempt from danger. Distinguished dermatolo-
gists and others assume this attitude in relation to the question. For
example Erasmus Wilson says: "Cheloid rarely gives rise to much
inconvenience, or attains any considerable magnitude, and when left to
itself progresses very slowly, or remains stationary for a number of
years, or for life, and we have known it to dis'appear spontaneously.
Its subjective sympoms are of no great severity, being limited to itch-
ing, tingling, and smarting, and more or less uneasiness in moving the
limbs, or from pressure when sitting or lying in bed. It has no ten-
dency to desquamation or ulceration."

Squire says: "Spontaneous Keloid once developed is apt to continue.
Sometimes, although rarely, its color may become altered, and the swell-
ing subside, but some traces of it always remain. The Cicatrical variety
generally disappears completely of itself. The disappearance or diminu-
tion of keloid tumors is effected by interstitial absorption; they have no
tendency to ulceration. Neither variety of keloid exerts any perceptible
influence on the general health."

The lessons taught by the cases about to be submitted to the
Society, have forced me to arrive at very different conclusions, and, I
think when you have considered the testimony and the facts connected
with these cases you will be disposed to adopt the idea that there is a
type of Idiopathic Cheloid, which is not only serious in its nature, but
very dangerous to life.

In Ziemssen's article on Keloid, Virchow is referred to as entertain-
ing the opinion that there are varieties of the disease which must be
considered malignant. I give the quotation as it appears in the text.
" In close connection with the symptoms of keloid is its diagnosis, for
we often encounter difficulties in the correct determination of both
morbid processes on account of the numerous and manifold relation-
ships of the idiopathic and cicatrical tumor. Virchow, in view of the
observation that some tumid formations termed keloid are of cancroid
(cancerous), others again of fibromatous or sarcomatous and even
syphilitic nature, has proposed to separate from keloid altogether all
growths springing from cicatrices, and to apply this term only to the
formations of spontaneous origin or arising from certain pathological
processes. Microscopic examination, however, failed to bear out this
view in the sense desired, inasmuch as the same structure was not
always found in keloids of spontaneous origin, and according to the
results obtained, keloid had sometimes to be included among the fibro-
matous, sometimes among the sarcomatous tumors. For in the one case
the formation is mainly composed of connective tissue, in analogy with
the fibroma; in the other cases again the great tendency to relapses, the
intractability of the affection, and the exceedingly profuse cell prolifera-
tions of the neoplasm are factors which pointed to a relationship with
sarcoma." From this extract it will be evident to you that Virchow and
the writer of the article in Ziemssen, while differing on some histologi-
cal and microscopic points, are in accord as to the existence of a variety
of cheloid, which pathologically is the very opposite of " innocent."

Let me now refer to a very instructive case occurring in the practice

APPENDIX " C " 601

of Dt. Gossip of Windsor, which I saw in consultation with him, in
December, 1886, and subsequently in April, 1887. Dr. Gossip had closely
watched its progress in the interval between these dates and had come to
the conclusion that it approached nearer in character to Cheloid, than
any other form of diseases known to him. It certainly had all the
anatomical features of the idiopathic variety. But, as on the occasion
of my last visit, it was evident it was running its course to a farai ter-
mination (and I had not then read the article in Ziemssen) I found
it difficult to reconcile this fact with such statements as I have quoted
from recognized authorities, the more so because of the apparent absence
of any other form of disease than that which was tangible and visible,
seated in the skin, and subcutaneous tissue of the thorax. I have before
me a letter from Dr. Gossip giving a brief history of this case, the con-
tents of which I now submit to the Society.

He says: " I first saw Mrs. C with the disease in question, about

the beginning of December, 1886, and a few days after you saw her in
Halifax. As far as I can ascertain there was no spot on the breast
until a few days before I saw it, but, as far back as the April previous

(about eight months), Mrs. C was continually complaining of a

numbness and coldness of the left arm, from the shoulder downwards.
I may say that this anesthetic condition of the arm seems to have left
her after the disease became established in the breast. The disease when
we first saw it was limited to the upper part of the left breast, which
was of a thick, leathery consistence evidently affecting the whole skin
and cellular tissue, but I don't think at any time it extended to the true
glandular substance. The skin affected was covered with a deep,
erythematous blush, or rather something more permanent and pronounced
than a blush, and the color was not effaced on pressure. On palpation
the feeling conveyed to the touch was that of handling a piece of sole
leather, even to the sense of crackling when pressed or kneaded. The
disease at first spread very gradually and continually, but afterwards
more rapidly, extending to the abdominal parietes over the stomach and
under the arm to the back. During the later course of the disease .the
increase was not continuous, as at first, but isolated patches would
appear in advance, which would coalesce and then join the parent body.
At the time of death the left breast, chest, side, and back, and also the
right mamma were affected. At no time was there a sign of pus form-
ing in any cavity, but the cutis vera, over the left mamma (the part
first attacked) took on a sloughing condition, but the ulceration never
extended through the whole thickness of the skin. During the entire

progress of the disease Mrs. C suffered but little. Occasionally she

would have some pain of a neuralgic character in the back and down the
thigh. There was no particular constitutional disturbance, but she
gradually lost strength, and towards the last a drowsiness which grad-
ually deepened into coma intervened.

" I could not say that there were any complications; no paralysis, no
albumen in urine, slight anasarca of the feet and ankles, no symptoms

of cardiac disease that I remember. Mrs. C died June 9th, so that

the duration of her disease was about seven or eight months."

The succinct and valuable description of the case here given by Dr.
Gossip well depicts the main features and symptoms of spontaneous
cheloid, and I submit it rather than my own notes, because I saw the
case but seldom and had no opportunity of watching its progress as it
pursued its course to a fatal issue.

On the 1st day of May last a lady (sent by Dr. Primrose of An
napolis County) called at my office to consult me. She was tall and
rather stout. Her weight was about 180 lbs. Age 56. She married
rather late in life and had two children. Her family history was good.
There was no record of either strumous or malignant disease. A few
years since she suffered from a sharp attack of cystitis, which readily
yielded to treatment. This was the only form of pelvic disease she
had had. The stomach and digestive organs were acting satisfactorily.

602 APPENDICES

as were the other abdominal organs, as far as could be ascertained.
The appetite was good. She stated she had for several years a
bronchial cough attended with a limited amount of expectoration of
mucus. The principal inconvenience connected with this affection was
shortness of breath, which was becoming increasingly troublesome, even
on slight exertion. The shoulders were high and round. The upper
part of the right posterior chest was, however, much more prominent
than the left. There was emphysematous respiration most marked in
the right lung, where the percussion note was clear, in contrast with
that of the left in which the dullness was most distinct over the middle
and upper portions, front and rear; moist rales were heard in both
lungs. There was a very noticeable contraction of the left half of the
chest, and the expansion of the upper and middle portions of this lung
was very much impaired. It was evident that this lung (the left), was
the site of extensive fibroid degeneration. The heart's sounds were
normal but weak, and were heard most distinctly about the central
portion of the sternum. There was nothing abnormal observed con-
nected with the nervous system, special or general. The skin as a whole
was inactive and dry. The diseased spot in that portion covering the
left mammary gland first attracted attention about the last of Septem-
ber, 1888, in consequence of a slight irritation and itching which
became localized there.

On exposing the front portion of the chest I was struck with the
increased size of the left breast when compared with the right, and the
peculiar appearance of the skin covering it. There was a fixed erythe-
matous redness over the surface of this skin equal in extent to the area
of the gland. The color was a deep red hue and disappeared, but only
for an instant, on pressure. The diseased skin was considerably but
evenly elevated above the line of that which wa3 healthy. It was
slightly wrinkled and to the touch dense and firm. The subcutaneous
cellular tissue was hypertrophied and very intimately connected with
the corium; but the mammary gland was apparently uninvolved.
Manipulating the part produced neither pain nor discomfort. The
nipple, as in Dr. Gossip's case, was healthy, not retracted, although such
was apparently the case, but this was due to the elevation of the skin
around it. There was a deep furrow between the two elevated portions
of cellular tissue and skin, running from the margin of the breast into
the left axillary region. At the bottom of this "furrow" the skin (in
shape like a narrow ribbon), was undergoing the same overgrowth of
its connective tissue which marked that covering the breast. She said
the affected part had never received any injury or bruise beyond that
which may have been caused by the pressure of the steel busk of her
corsets. The general glandular system, as far as could be ascertained,
was quite free from disease.

My diagnosis was idiopathic cheloid, complicated with pulmonary
fibroid degeneration. I declined to interfere surgically and gave an
unfavorable prognosis. She had been taking arsenic before I saw her,
and although, personally, I had seen no success following the use of
" Chian turpentine " in the treatment of malignant disease I advised
Dr. Primrose to try it and to use externally " Pond's Extract," (i.e.,
Hamamelis), and if after trial no improvement resulted, to administer
the perchloride of mercury, and apply the local remedies suggested by
Wilson in his brief article on cheloid in Quain's Medical Dictionary.

I saw this lady a second time on the 13th of June. Her pulse was
100 and the temperature 99%, the same as on May 1st. The breathing
was shorter and more difficult. The only other change worthy of note
was the extension across the sternum to the margin of the right breast,
of a network of capillaries, giving the surface of the skin there the
same red tint to which I have already called your attention. This con-
dition extended also under the arm and transversely across the left chest
to the angle of the scapula, but hypertrophic changes in the skin were
not observable to any marked degree.

xVPPENDIX " C " 003

In Dr. Primrose's correspondence connected with this case he in-
formed me that several years ago he had under his charge a woman
aged 50 similarly affected. The disease first attacked the right breast,
crossed the sternum to the left, and from thence extended to the left
side and arm. The latter became greatly swollen and painful. There
was no ulceration. Its course was rapid and terminated in death at the
expiration of twelve months.

The anatomical characters of cheloid and the nature of its develop-
ment are clearly and well stated by Erasmus Wilson, as follows: "At
its first development cheloma occupies the fibrous portion of the corium.
As it increases in bulk it pushes the vascular layer outwards and
stretches the corpus papillare, obliterating the capillary network more
or less completely. In its aggregate form, when it presents itself as a
flat plate raised for a quarter of an inch above the level of the adjoin-
ing skin, and sinking to a similar extent into tne corium, it has the
appearance of being tied down by strong cords or roots at either end
and frequently overlaps the healthy skin along its borders. In this
state it is seen to be composed of strong, fibrous bands closely inter-
laced with each other, and enveloped by a smooth, transparent, pinkish
layer, in which may be detected a scanty vascular plexus converging to
venules which sink between the meshes of the fibrous structure.
Around the circumference of one of these larger, flattened tumors, such
as is commonly met with on the sternum, and measuring several inches
in diameter, there will generally be observed a few scattered knots.
These are developed in the fibrous sheath of the arteries at a short dis-
tance from the mass, and being thus linked to the central growth are
subsequently drawn into the (focus of the tumor. And the development
of the so-called roots is explained by the propagation of the proliferating
process, by the coats and sheat'hs of the blood vessels communicating
with the central tumor."

I have not had the opportunity of observing the disease in all its
phases, or of watching its progress at short intervals, as the cases I
have seen came from a distance, and almost immediately returned to
their homes, but the anatomical characters and process of development
just quoted from Wilson, closely and accurately correspond with the
main external conditions noticed by myself occasionally, but frequently
by the gentlemen under whose immediate care they were.

It is stated that there is no tendency to ulceration in this disease.
You will remember that in Dr. Gossip's case it was present but was
superficial, not extending through the cutis vera.

The impression is conveyed by several writers on the subject of
cheloid, that the skin immediately over the sternum (where there is
but a limited amount of cellular tissue intervening between it and the
bone), is the point where the disease generally has its origin, and very
occasionally only allusion is made to its connection with the skin cover-
ing the mammary gland in females. The cases I have seen have been
in women, and in all, the site of its first appearance was over the breast,
as it was in the woman who died under the care of Dr. Primrose.
The respiratory movements and the prominence of this organ in the
female, subject it not unfrequently to irritation from pressure and fric-
tion, and to other injuries from without. And in a system predisposed
to " fibrosis " this would seem to be a favorable site for its first appear-
ance. In the cases which I have submitted for your consideration the
disease was evidently constitutional — not local — not the result merely
of a perverted condition of the nerve and vascular supply of a limited
area or areas of skin, connected for the most part with the thorax, but
these external conditions were beyond doubt " the local expressions of
a constitutional disease."

In none of the cases seen by me did the unyielding and unelastic
surface affected appear to materially interfere with chest expansion, and
although fully recognizing the intimate relations existing between the
skin, the respiratory, and circulatory systems, I cannot conceive that so

604 APPENDICES

small a portion (small when compared with the whole cutaneous cover-
ing of the body), could, per se, produce results so serious as sometimes
at least supervene on the invasion of this disease. We must look within
the body and to other organs or systems for the additional factors con-
cerned in effecting such fatal results as are here recorded.

In the case last mentioned the hyperplasia of the skin was, in all
probability, long preceded by a fibroid condition of the pulmonary con-
nective tissue, and, in this individual case I do not think it will be
assuming too much to suggest that there is a connection between them,
or in other words, that the same conditions which produced the pul-
monary fibrosis were instrumental also in effecting the fibroid change
in the skin of the thorax. (In this relation it will be well to remember
the fact that in neither Dr. Gossip's nor Dr. Primrose's fatal cases were
there symptoms of this or any other form of lung disease.) From the
facts and statements which I have thus very imperfectly submitted to
the society, I think it will be apparent to you that the matter is of
sufficient importance to demand further and closer consideration, and
it would be very gratifying to me if some of the gentlemen before me
who are specially interested in pathology and histology should avail
themselves of any opportunities that may offer to more thoroughly and
exhaustively examine and report on this subject. Finally, let me add
that one of the objects I have in view in thus taxing your time is to
sound a note of warning in relation to prognosis. Some of my confreres
present may not have met with " malignant cheloid," and, should it fall
to their lot to come in contact with mammary cases of the disease in
women who have passed the mid-period of life, I would say they should
view the outlook as dreary and dark and anticipate little advantage
from any form of treatment.

BOUND TO PLEASE

%luJwm fiwMii*

■\.* N. MANCHESTER.

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Full text of "Daniel McNeill Parker, M.D. : his ancestry and a memoir of his life ; Daniel McNeill and his descendants"

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